- A defiant Saddam Hussein rejected charges of war crimes
and genocide in a court appearance in Baghdad Thursday, telling a judge
"this is all theater, the real criminal is Bush."
-
- Saddam was handcuffed when brought to the court but the
shackles were removed for the 30-minute arraignment at Camp Victory, one
of his former palaces on the outskirts of Baghdad. "I am Saddam Hussein,
the president of Iraq," Saddam twice said, according to a reporter
in an official media pool. He was alternately downcast and defiant, becoming
more animated in his exchanges with the judge as the hearing went on.
-
- 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.
"Please allow me not to sign until the lawyers are present. ... Anyhow,
when you take a procedure to bring me here again, present me with all these
papers with the presence of lawyers. Why would you behave in a manner that
we might call hasty later on?" he said.
-
- Saddam appeared most agitated when the subject came to
the invasion of Kuwait-one of the broad charges against him. "The
armed forces went to Kuwait," Saddam said. "Is it possible to
raise accusations against an official figure and this figure be treated
apart from the official guarantees stipulated by the constitution and the
law? Where is this law upon which you are conducting investigations?"
-
- He also said the invasion was carried out "for the
Iraqi people." When he referred to the Kuwaitis as "dogs,"
the judge admonished him for using such language in a court of law.
-
- 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.
-
- A formal indictment with specific charges is expected
later, said Salem Chalabi, director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Those
were expected to include war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
The trial is not expected until 2005.
-
- Saddam wore a charcoal-colored, pinstriped jacket with
a white shirt open at the collar, and black trousers and shoes. He often
stroked his trimmed, gray-and-black beard and had heavy bags under his
eyes. He sat calmly, gesturing with his hands while addressing the court
and sometimes taking notes on a piece of yellow paper.
-
- His appearance was in sharp contrast to video taken of
him after his December capture, when he looked heavier, his beard was longer
and his hair was gray and unkempt.
-
- The 67-year-old Saddam was seated in front of the judge,
with a wooden bar separating the two. The video showed the judge from behind
and from the side. When asked if he could afford a lawyer, Saddam retorted:
"The Americans say I have millions hidden in Switzerland. How can
I not have the money to pay for one?"
-
- Saddam was flown by helicopter from an undisclosed location
and driven to a courtroom on a U.S. base. He was led from an armored bus
escorted by two Iraqi guards and ushered through a door guarded by six
more Iraqi police. The bus was escorted by four Humvees and an ambulance.
-
- At one point, according to a commentary by Arab broadcaster
Al-Jazeera, Saddam asked the judge whether he would be tried under laws
from his rule.
-
- Saddam told the court that the U.S. and multinational
troops in Iraq were not "coalition troops but invasion troops,"
according to Al-Jazeera.
-
- Saddam insisted the judge refer to him as the "president
of the Republic of Iraq" because "this would be respecting the
will of the people," according to Al-Jazeera.
-
- Strict pool arrangements severely limited media access
to the hearing. The pool video, which was cleared by the U.S. military,
was initially broadcast without sound, but parts later were released with
sound.
-
- The only journalist working for an Iraqi publication,
Sadiq Rahman of the newspaper Azzaman, was ordered out of the courtroom
by the judge 10 minutes before the hearing began. One Iraqi working for
the pan-Arab Shaq al-Awsat newspaper was allowed to attend."
-
- Unfortunately, they are already being unfair to Iraqi
journalists," Rahman said afterward, noting that U.S. television reporters
were allowed inside in addition to the pool.
-
- 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.
-
- "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."
-
- 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 the country recover from 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, Saddam said, "Good morning,"
as he entered, listened to the official explanation, and was told he could
respond to complaints Thursday. He then was taken 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.
-
- 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 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 Iraq 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 said the Americans should be put on trial first
because they "killed thousands of Iraqis in one year of occupation."
-
- ©ÝCopyrightÝ2004ÝHaaretz. All
rights reserved http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/446221.html
|