IRAQ: Saddam Hussein's trial descended into chaos yesterday when the former Iraqi president took the stand for the first time and urged Iraqis to keep up the campaign of violence against the US-led occupation.
"I call on the people to start resisting the invaders instead of killing each other," he said.
After a series of heated exchanges, Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman cut off Saddam's microphone, cleared the room of journalists and cut the television feed.
Although Saddam has frequently made comments in the court, he was giving testimony for the first time yesterday. He denounced the occupation, praised the insurgents, insisted he was still president and dismissed the proceedings as "a comedy". The judge cut his microphone nine times in the first 39 minutes.
Saddam is charged with killing 148 people in Dujail in 1982 after an attempt to assassinate him. If found guilty he and his co-defendants face hanging.
In his opening statement Saddam said he was a loyal son of the Iraqi people, "their pure fountain from which they drink and be honoured. And they were my shield and sword." He welcomed the insurgency: "In your resistance to the American-Zionist invasion you are great, and you will always be great in my eyes ... it's only a question of time till the sun rises and you will be victorious." And he said the US would be swept out of Iraq "as the garbage that they are".
He expressed dismay over the bombing of the Shia mosque in Samarra last month and the deaths of more than 80 people on Tuesday. He warned that if Iraqis did not turn away from civil war "you will live in darkness and rivers of pure blood".
Judge Rahman told Saddam to stop making political statements and address the charges against him and seven others. When Saddam declared: "I am head of state," the judge retorted: "You used to be a head of state. You are a defendant now." During one exchange Saddam described the US coalition as "criminals who came under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction and the pretext of democracy instead of dictatorship".
The judge told him: "You are in front of an Iraqi court. This [ political issue] is a subject between you and the Americans. Don't involve the court." Saddam replied: "If it were not for politics, I would not be here, and you would have not been brought here. So if your highness was upset by that, file another charge against me."
As the exchanges became more acrimonious, Judge Rahman shouted at Saddam: "Respect yourself." Saddam shouted back: "You respect yourself."
By the end of the public session Saddam, the judge, the prosecutor and the defence lawyers were all shouting. Judge Rahman ordered reporters out, saying: "The court has decided to turn this into a secret and closed session."
Immediately before Saddam's testimony his half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim, who headed the Mukhabarat secret police, was presented with Mukhabarat documents allegedly signed by him and relating to the Dujail incident. He claimed they were fakes.
The trial was adjourned until April 5th.
With sectarian violence continuing, the US is to send more troops into Shia areas during this month's Ashura festival. Sunni terrorists have launched a series of attacks on Shias over the past few years during this period of Shia pilgrimage. The US will move an extra 700 soldiers from Kuwait.
Associated Press reported 11 people, most of them women and children, were killed when US forces destroyed a house during a raid in Balad, north of Baghdad, early yesterday.