Saddam faces court in 2nd case

The 1987-88 crackdown was aimed at crushing independence-minded Kurdish militias and clearing all Kurds from the northern region along the border with Iran. Saddam accused the Kurds of helping Iran in its war with Iraq. Many villages were razed and countless young men disappeared, according to survivors.

On Monday, Saddam became furious when prosecutors spoke of Kurdish women being raped in prison during the campaign. “I can never accept the claim that an Iraqi woman was raped while Saddam is president,” he shouted, banging on a podium in front of him and pointing a finger at the prosecutors. “How could I walk with my head up?”

It was one of the few outbursts in a session that was generally calm and business-like, unlike the many arguments and disturbances of the Dujail trial. After a nearly five-hour session, the trial adjourned until Tuesday.

Still, Saddam—wearing the same outfit of a black suit and white shirt that he wore throughout his first trial—also showed the same defiance and rejection of the tribunal. When chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri asked Saddam to identify himself for the record, Saddam retorted: “You know me.”

“Do you respect this law?” al-Amiri asked Saddam. “This is the law of the occupation,” Saddam replied, then identified himself as “the president of the republic.”

The judge told Saddam, “This trial is on charges of genocide and war crimes. Are you innocent or guilty?” Saddam replied, “That would require volumes of books.” Al-Amiri then ordered that a plea of innocent be entered into the record.

Saddam’s top co-defendant, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, who allegedly led Operation Anfal became known as “Chemical Ali” for the use of poison gas, also refused to enter a plea.

The proceedings are taking place in the same courtroom where Saddam spent months jousting with the judges in his turbulent first trial on Dujail.

RAWYA RAGEH