Saddam Hussein

During a 26-minute court appearance on the grounds of one of his former palaces, the former Ba'athist leader who had not been seen publicly since his December arrest showed he had lost none of his acerbic temperament.

Saddam said he should be addressed as the "current" president of Iraq. He questioned the legitimacy of the proceeding, insisting that the court had no jurisdiction to strip him of his presidential immunity for alleged crimes committed when he was president. He called U.S. President George W. Bush a "criminal," his planned trial an election-year "farce" and the Kuwaitis whose country he invaded and occupied in 1990 "dogs" and "mad dogs."

In addition to Saddam, 11 "high-value detainees" were brought from their detention facilities in a specially armored bus to the courthouse. They included former Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz and Ali Hassan Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his suspected role in a 1988 chemical attack on a Kurdish village.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 10, 2004
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