Saddam Hussein Watch: Trial Starts for 1982 Massacre

Saddam Hussein addresses the judges at his trial held under tight security in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in Iraq Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005. He and other men face charges that they ordered the killing in 1982 of nearly 150 people in the mainly Shiite village of Dujail north of Baghdad after a failed attempt on the former dictator’s life.

The ASSociated Press has Saddam Goes on Trial for 1982 Massacre.

Saddam Hussein went on trial Wednesday for a massacre of his fellow Iraqis, turning immediately argumentative and challenging the legitimacy of the court trying him two years after his capture for the killings of 150 Shiites.

When the trial began, the 68-year-old ousted Iraqi leader — looking thin with a salt-and-pepper beard in a dark gray suit and open-collared white shirt — stood and asked the presiding judge: “Who are you? I want to know who you are.”

“I preserve my constitutional rights as the president of
Iraq,” Saddam said. “I do not recognize the body that has authorized you and I don’t recognize this aggression. What is based on injustice is unjust … I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect.”

The presiding judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd, tried to get Saddam to formally identify himself, but Saddam refused. After several moments, he sat down.

Definitely in DENIAL.

He looked better crawling out of that hole where he was cowering like the RAT he is.

A needle in his arm will be too kind.

Iraqis hold a poster with pictures of people they allege were killed during Saddam Hussein’s regime during a demonstration demanding his execution in Dujail, Iraq, Wednesday Oct. 19 2005. Saddam and seven senior members of his regime are facing charges that they ordered the killing in 1982 of nearly 150 people in the mainly Shiite village of Dujail north of Baghdad after a failed attempt on the former dictator’s life. White paper in lower left corner reads ‘We demand the tyrant’s death’.

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