Listen to me. I did not eat one stick of that salami when I was down in that rat hole hiding from the Bush infidels.
Posted on 07/01/2004 5:58:01 AM PDT by TexKat
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A defiant Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) rejected charges of war crimes and genocide against him in a court appearance Thursday, telling a judge "this is all theater, the real criminal is Bush," according to a reporter in an official media pool.
Saddam's hands were cuffed when he was brought to the court but the shackles were removed for the 30-minute arraignment at Camp Victory, a former Saddam palace on the outskirts of Baghdad.
"I am Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq," Saddam twice said, according to the CNN reporter, who described him as alternately downcast and defiant. Other times, he appeared confused.
In his first public appearance since he was captured seven months ago, Saddam refused to sign a list of charges against him unless a lawyer was present, and he questioned the court's jurisdiction, according to the reporter. Saddam defended the invasion of Kuwait, saying it was "for the Iraqi people."
The seven broad charges against Saddam are the killing of religious figures in 1974; gassing of Kurds in Halabja in 1988; killing the Kurdish Barzani clan in 1983; killing members of political parties in the last 30 years; the 1986-88 "Anfal" campaign of displacing Kurds; the suppression of the 1991 uprisings by Kurds and Shiites; and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Specific charges will be filed later, Iraqi officials said. Those charges were expected to include war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. A formal indictment with specific charges is expected later, said Salem Chalabi, director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal. The trial is not expected until 2005.
Saddam wore a gray, pinstriped suit with an open-collar white shirt and black shoes. His beard was trimmed and he had heavy bags under his eyes, according to the first televised images of his appearance. He sat calmly, occasionally gesturing with his hands while addressing the court.
Saddam sometimes took notes on a piece of yellow paper and gestured with his hands. He was wearing a white with no tie and a charcoal-colored pinstriped jacket. He often stroked his trimmed beard and appeared thoughtful.
Saddam was flown by helicopter from an undisclosed location and driven to a courtroom on a U.S. base, the report said. He was led from an armored bus escorted by two Iraqi prison guards and ushered through a door guarded by six more Iraqi policemen. The bus was escorted by four Humvees and an ambulance.
Strict pool arrangements severely limited media access to the hearing.
"The next legal step would be that the investigations start proper with investigative judges and investigators beginning the process of gathering evidence," Chalabi said. "Down the line, there will be an indictment, if there is enough evidence — obviously, and a timetable starts with respect to a trial date."
Saddam and 11 of his top lieutenants were transferred to Iraqi custody Wednesday. They no longer are prisoners of war but are still locked up, with U.S. forces as their jailers.
"They were surprised that they were told they're in Iraqi custody," Chalabi told AP Radio.
President Ghazi al-Yawer told an Arab newspaper that Iraq's new government has decided to reinstate the death penalty, which was suspended during the U.S. occupation.
U.S. and Iraqi officials hope the trial will lay bare the atrocities of Saddam's regime and help push the country toward normalcy after years of tyranny, the U.S.-led invasion and the insurgency that blossomed in its aftermath.
But the trial could have the opposite effect, possibly widening the chasm among Iraq's disparate groups — Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis.
"It's going to be the trial of the century," National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told Associated Press Television News. "Everybody is going to watch this trial, and we are going to demonstrate to the outside world that we in the new Iraq are going to be an example of what the new Iraq is all about."
Wednesday's transfer of legal custody took place in secret. Chalabi said the defendants were brought one-by-one into a room at an undisclosed location and informed of the change in their status to criminal suspects. They were told they will appear in court within 24 hours to hear charges, he said.
According to Chalabi, the 67-year-old Saddam said, "Good morning," as he entered the room, listened to the official explanation, and was told he could respond to complaints Thursday. He then was hustled away.
"Some of them looked very worried," Chalabi said of the other defendants, who include former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, the regime's best-known spokesman in the West; Ali Hasan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali;" and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan.
The initial proceedings are taking place under a blanket of secrecy because of fears that insurgents, many of them Saddam supporters, might exact revenge on participants.
U.S. and Iraqi officials refused to say where Thursday's hearing would take place or release the name of the presiding judge. No pictures will be allowed of any Iraqi participants — except for the defendants — to protect them from attack. Only a few journalists will be allowed to attend.
Issam Ghazawi, a member of Saddam's defense team, said he received threats in a telephone call Wednesday from someone claiming to be a minister of justice, who promised that anyone trying to defend Saddam would be "chopped to pieces."
U.S. officials had hoped to delay proceedings against Saddam until the Iraqis set up a special court and trained a legal team. But Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose government regained sovereignty Monday, insisted publicly on taking legal custody of Saddam quickly. The Americans agreed on condition they keep him under U.S. lock and key.
Trying Saddam and top regime figures presents a major challenge to the Iraqis and their American backers.
Allawi's government is due to leave office after January elections, and a second national ballot will be held by December 2005. That raises the possibility that national policy on the prosecution of Saddam and his backers could change depending on the makeup of the government.
Most of Iraq's 25 million people were overjoyed when Saddam's regime collapsed, and many are looking forward to the day he will be punished.
"Everyone all over the world agrees that Saddam Hussein should be put on trial in front of the Iraqi people," Baghdad resident Ahmad al-Lami said.
However, the turmoil of the past 14 months has led to a longing for the stability and order of the ousted dictatorship, at least among Sunni Arab Muslims who now feel threatened by the possibility of a Shiite-dominated government.
Nostalgia for Saddam — a Sunni — is strongest in Sunni-dominated parts of the country most heavily involved in the insurgency.
"Saddam Hussein was a national hero and better than the traitors in the new government," a resident of Saddam's hometown of Tikrit told APTN, refusing to give his name.
In Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, resident Ammar Mohammed suggested the Americans should be put on trial first because they "killed thousands of Iraqis in one year of occupation."
LOL. Good one.
It truly is. Amazing vision by W & Co. It's going to be up there with the collapse of communism and the Soviet Union. I hope I'm around for at least 40 more years to see where it all ends up in the ME...
Listen to me. I did not eat one stick of that salami when I was down in that rat hole hiding from the Bush infidels.
Well, just imagine
if during the Klinton years
French and German troops
had kidnapped Klinton
and put him on trial. As much
as we hate Klinton,
it would piss off us
to see foreign troops control
his trip to justice.
I can't imagine
that these pictures of Saddam
will calm down rebels . . .
>Kuwaitis Redha Sardar, right, and Tareq Bu Hemit listen intently to reports that Saddam Hussein called Kuwaitis 'dogs' during his court appearance,<
I bet the Kuwaitis are steamed. "Dog" is a real slur in the Middle East, as dogs are considered to be very unclean.
Zaydoon al-Kafaji, 56, and other patrons of the Karadat Maryam coffee shop watch as former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appears on satelite television at a courtroom hearing in Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, July 1, 2004.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Firas Adnan, his tongue cut off more than a year ago, talks to a reporter in his home in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, June 30, 2004. Just before the regime fell, the 24-year-old laborer quarreled with a Saddam loyalist, who punished him by chopping off his tongue. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
DVDs showing the crimes of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sit for sale in a market in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, July 1, 2004, as Saddam was scheduled to appear in court in an undisclosed location. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Actually if you check the photo of when he was captured, his hair was dark then, just his beard was gray.
I had to go back and look at the picture to check and see if he had dyed his hair for the court appearance.
He probably dyed his hair while he was fleeing capture. His hair is un-naturally dark for a person of his age. He's "coiffed" for sure. Does the Geneva Covention say anything about "maintenance of personal appearance to bolster self-esteem?"
By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - For a moment they were startled into silence. Then instinctive fear gave way to fury among Iraqis in a Baghdad tea lounge as Saddam Hussein appeared on television -- not in a presidential palace but in court.
The watchers unleashed a barrage of abuse.
"Look -- the pimp is speaking," said janitor Muhammad Ali, one of the Shi'ite majority that was oppressed under the former president, using one of the harshest Iraqi insults.
"I heard he used to eat a whole deer during every meal and now he looks much thinner," he added with a smile. Ali comes from Hilla, where several mass graves have been unearthed.
The men had waited for hours for Saddam to face charges, killing time by recalling the military mishaps, United Nations sanctions and torture chambers Iraqis had endured during his three decades in power.
When the image of a Saddam who had clearly lost weight but still projected confidence appeared on an Arab satellite channel, the friends sat up in silence for about 30 seconds. One of them whistled in disbelief.
Saddam, captured last December after being ousted the previous April by a U.S.-led invasion, appeared before a young judge to face charges of crimes against humanity on Thursday in a special courtroom near Baghdad airport.
He showed his trademark defiance by refusing to sign legal documents presented to him and branded the proceedings "theater," saying the real criminal was U.S President Bush.
As footage was shown of Saddam taking notes, Ali said: "Look -- his secretary isn't even there to take notes for him any more."
"THEY CALL THIS PUNISHMENT?"
To the friends perched on the arms of chairs and backs of couches, the riveting footage of Saddam was a far cry from the towering figure in a military uniform who inspired fear in millions of Iraqis -- and in neighboring states.
Arkan Hinmis looked closely and noticed that Saddam was not wearing handcuffs and was sitting in a clean courtroom, unlike the grim chambers that ordered summary executions during his rule.
"This is no good. Why are his hands free? The court is nice. He looks comfortable. They call this punishment of a dictator?" the unemployed Iraqi asked.
For these men, it was a chance to release years of pent-up anger and frustration. But even seeing Saddam in the dock was not enough to make them forget past brutalities.
"Saddam had many palaces while his people were starving. But I hesitate to really speak because he still has agents," said Mustafa, who declined to give his full name.
The tea-room customers recalled the tale of a man said to have spat on Saddam's image on television and then been found out and executed after the then president talked to his son during a visit to a school.
One remembered how he was making a decent living in Kuwait for years before he was expelled from the Gulf state after Saddam's invasion troops were driven out in 1991. His friends joked that he was still afraid to speak out against Saddam.
Others welcomed the trial but said that in the chaos of post-Saddam Iraq, the fate of the toppled leader was the least of their worries.
"Saddam is a coward. He can't even defend himself after pretending he was a great leader for all those years," said 52-year-old merchant Riad Mohammed.
"Executing him won't give back what Iraqis lost over the years. What we need now is electricity. I only hope this trial is not designed to deflect attention away from our problems."
Yeah, and I am Ming, the Emperor of Mongo.
Arab-back style bird flipping.
Why do they let him have a belt?
"I am Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq,"
Sure you are.
Kurdish men watch the first appearance of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein at the beginning of his trial in Iraq, at a teashop in Arbil, northern Iraq, July, 2004. Downcast but defiant, Iraq's former dictator appeared before an Iraqi judge Thursday, questioning his authority and saying the 'real criminal' was U.S. President George W. Bush. REUTERS/Sasa Kralj
BARBER SHOP III
In this image cleared by the US military, Saddam Hussein appears in a courtroom at Camp Victory, a former Saddam palace on the outskirts of Baghdad, Thursday, July 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Pool)
Iraq's deposed dictator Saddam Hussein appears before an Iraqi tribunal in Baghdad, July 1, 2004. Hussein appeared before an Iraqi judge on Thursday, questioning his authority and saying the 'real criminal' was U.S. President George W. Bush. Saddam, taken to the U.S.-guarded courtroom in handcuffs and chains, was read seven charges that may lead to formal indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. REUTERS/Handout
By The Associated Press
Quotes by Saddam Hussein at his hearing Thursday:
ON BEING ASKED HIS NAME BY THE JUDGE:
"Saddam Hussein al-Majid, president of Iraq."
___
ON THE HEARING:
"You know that this is all a theater by Bush, the criminal, to help him with his campaign."
___
ON THE OCCUPATION OF KUWAIT:
"How could Saddam be tried over a Kuwait that said it will reduce Iraqi women to 10-dinar prostitutes? He defended Iraq's honor and revived its historical rights over those dogs."
___
ON SIGNING COURT DOCUMENTS AT THE END OF THE HEARING:
"Please allow me not to sign until the lawyers are present. Anyhow when you take a procedure to bring me here again, present me all these papers with the presence of lawyers. Why would you have me behave in a manner that we might call it hasty later on?"
___
ON WHETHER HE CAN AFFORD A LAWYER:
"According to the Americans, I have millions of dollars in Geneva, so I should be able to afford one."
The B.B.C. just interviewed George Galloway (the traitorous British M.P.). He was asked whether he was glad that Saddam had been in court, and replied that the best case would be a fair trial for Saddam, alongside Presidents Bush (both of them), President Clinton, Prime Ministers Blair, Major and Thatcher. Even the B.B.C. interviewer was surprised by the lunacy of Mr. Galloway's position.
Dan Rather petitioned the court to be a character witness.
We better keep an eye on those hand signals.
They might mean something.......
Thanks for the ping, TexKat! Great thread and you posted fantastic pics.
Your question about the belt was good. I wondered why he would be allowed to have a pen that could be used as a weapon instead of something like a stick of charcoal.
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