Defiant Saddam calls Bush the 'real criminal'

10.30am UPDATE

BAGHDAD - Downcast but defiant, Iraq's former dictator Saddam Hussein appeared before an Iraqi judge on Thursday, questioning his authority and saying the "real criminal" was US President George W. Bush.

Saddam, led to the US-guarded courtroom in handcuffs and chains, was read seven charges that may lead to formal indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

"I am Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq," he repeated, before grilling the unnamed young judge about his authority.

Video footage of the 67-year-old Saddam, his face worn and deeply lined with heavy bags under the eyes, was broadcast around the world soon after his 30-minute court appearance.

He was wearing a dark grey pinstriped jacket and a white formal shirt, and had a trimmed, mostly grey beard. It was the first public view of Saddam since he appeared wildly unkempt in photographs and videotape shot after his capture in December.

Saddam refused to recognise that he was guilty of a crime in invading Kuwait in 1990, jabbing his finger towards the judge and saying: "I'm surprised you're charging me with that as an Iraqi, when everyone knows that Kuwait is part of Iraq."

The judge told him these were legal procedures, but Saddam interrupted him: "Law, what law?" he asked.

"You are putting Saddam on trial when the Kuwaitis said they could buy Iraqi women for 10 dinars on the street. The Iraqi soldiers went to defend the honour of Iraq, so what right do these dogs have?" he said, drawing a reprimand from the judge.

"This is all a theatre," Saddam said with a half-smile. "The real criminal is Bush."

Saddam faced the court three days after the United States handed formal sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government, 15 months after the US-led invasion of the country.

In New Orleans, US Vice President Dick Cheney said the world and America were safer because the Bush administration's war on terrorism had brought "decisive and relentless action against extremists."

Iraq "has been returned to its rightful owners and ... joins Afghanistan as a nation transformed from a state sponsor of terror to an ally in the war on terror," Cheney said in a speech meant to rebuild support for Bush lost amid the growth of violence and instability in post-invasion Iraq.

Cheney repeated his position that Saddam's regime had "long-established ties with al Qaeda", though an independent US investigation has said it found no evidence of collaboration between the two.



CHAINS AND HANDCUFFS

Saddam arrived in a US helicopter at a military base and was then driven in an armoured bus to the makeshift courtroom in one of his former palaces near Baghdad international airport.

Two burly Iraqi guards escorted him into the courthouse where his chains were removed. His handcuffs were taken off inside the courtroom itself, where he sat facing cameras.

The arraignment was the first step towards a trial which could help Iraq come to terms with 35 years of Baath party brutality, though it may not start for many months.

Apart from the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the preliminary charges against Saddam referred to the suppression of Kurdish and Shi'ite revolts after the 1991 Gulf War, poison gas attacks and other massacres of Kurds, the killing of religious leaders in 1974 and the killing of political figures over three decades.

Hearing the charge that he ordered the gassing of thousands of Kurds in an attack at Halabja in 1988, Saddam shrugged it off, saying he had heard of the incident through the media.

The proceedings took place at Camp Victory, a US base near the main airport, where the US military is thought to have held the former president in solitary confinement at a high-security detention centre known as Camp Cropper.

Similar hearings were held later for 11 of his former aides, including former Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, Saddam's half-brothers and Hassan Ali al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged role in using poison gas on Kurds and Iranians.

Some appeared with eyes glistening, others were polite, while others looked angry. All appeared shrunken by their imprisonment, according to a reporter allowed into the courtroom.

The US military handed the 12 men over to Iraqi legal custody on Wednesday, but will continue to guard them.

- REUTERS

The charges against Saddam

Herald Feature: Iraq