Saddam Says He's Been Beaten in Detention

By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer
(Associated Press Writers Jason Straziuso and Omar Sinan contributed to this report from Baghdad.)

Awwww ... Poor fucking baby.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein launched into an extended outburst at his trial Wednesday, alleging he had been beaten and tortured by his Americans captors while in detention after a witness testified that his agents had tortured people by ripping off their skin.

Now that's creative. Where did you get that one from? Uday?

Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi said he would investigate and that if American-led multinational forces were abusing the former Iraqi leader, he would be transferred to the custody of Iraqi troops.

Unfortunately, I don't think that will get ol' Saddy to shut up, even if it does mean he will likely undergo REAL torture if he's placed in that custodial arrangement. He'd be begging to go back to the Americans!

"I want to say here, yes, we have been beaten by the Americans and we have been tortured," Saddam said, before gesturing to his seven co-defendants around him, "one by one."

One by one. Just like those innocents you knocked off in your torture chambers, one by one.

After sitting quietly through several hours of testimony, Saddam said he'd been beaten "everywhere on my body. The marks are still there."

The hundreds of thousands of Iraqis murdered and buried in mass graves were unavailable for comment.

Saddam and his co-defendants are on trial in the deaths of more than 140 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.

Standing in the fenced-in defendant's area, Saddam complained at length about the conditions of his detention, engaging in a debate with al-Mousawi. Some of the exchange was edited out of the televised feed of the trial, which later adjourned until Thursday.

Saddam also told the court that he knew the name of the person who betrayed his hiding place when U.S. forces found him in December 2003.

We know it, too. He's one of the wealthiest people in Iraq now that we've paid him his bounty. I suppose we might have some reason to doubt he cast his vote in your favor in the election. Do you somehow think that by saying you know his name, we will all cower in fear that he'll somehow be tortured or killed? Puh-LEASE. You are nothing more than a simple criminal now, Saddy. Your threats are of no consequence. I'd have betrayed your hiding place, too, you fucking asshole.

Earlier, Saddam was composed as a witness testified that his regime killed and tortured people by administering electric shocks and ripping off their skin after pouring molten plastic on it.

Well I guess we know now who thought of the "ripping off the skin" accusation.

Two weeks ago, Saddam had called the court "unjust" and boycotted a session.

Poor fucking baby.

Ali Hassan Mohammed al-Haidari was the prosecution's first witness Wednesday, testifying about killings and torture in Dujail after the attempt to assassinate Saddam.

Al-Haidari, who was 14 in 1982, started off by quoting from the Quran, the Islamic holy book, about how evil would be defeated.

No connection to terrorism? A guy who authorizes torture and murder in front of a 14-year old has no connnection to terrorism? Ummm ... ok?

The judge, in an apparent early bid to take control of a courtroom that has often been unruly, told the witness to address the court and not Saddam directly.

Al-Haidari, whose brother was the trial's first witness, testified that seven of his brothers were executed by Saddam's regime and their bodies have not been found.

Al-Haidari said that he and other Dujail residents - including relatives - were taken to Baghdad and thrown into a security services prison, where people from "9 to 90" were held.

Throwing innocent 9-year olds in prison - no connection to terrorism?

Blood poured from head wounds and skin was pale from electric shocks, he testified. Security officials would drip melted plastic hoses on detainees, only to pull it off after it cooled, tearing skin off with it, he said.

"I cannot express all that suffering and pain we faced in the 70 days inside," he said.

This witness is testifying to events that happened in front of him when he was FOURTEEN YEARS OLD. I'm going to be sick.

After a recess, another witness took the stand - the first of four the judge said would testify from behind a curtain Wednesday.

During previous sessions, Saddam has been defiant and combative, often trying to dominate the courtroom.

I wonder if he'll try to dominate the firing squad.

The deposed president had refused to attend the previous session on Dec. 7. "I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!" he said in an outburst in court a day earlier.

I was already there and your mom said you weren't home.

On Wednesday, his behavior was initially calmer, and he appeared clean-shaven and in fresh clothes, wearing a dark suit but no tie. At previous sessions, Saddam has appeared disheveled and has complained about being held in unsanitary conditions.

You want unsanitary conditions? Step into this big hole.

After greeting the court with a traditional "Peace be upon you," he sat quietly in the defendants' area and appeared to pay close attention to the proceedings, at times taking notes.

Let's see ... one very small circle ... one a little bigger around that ...

Later on, Saddam, interrupting al-Haidari, asked the judge if the court could take a break for prayer. Though the witness agreed, the judge ordered the trial to continue. About 10 minutes later, Saddam swung his chair to the left, closed his eyes and repeatedly bowed his head in what appeared to be about a minute-long prayer, the first time he has done that in court.

Suddenly discovering religion, are we? It'll be pretty helpful after you've had all that lead pumped into you.

Muslims are required to pray five days a day at specific times.

Make that "five times a day" ... call me a perfectionist. As to Saddam, the idea of him stopping to pray makes for pretty good theater, but I doubt anyone's going to do much but laugh. Can you picture this scene? Here's ol' Saddy, sitting there in court being tried for heinous crimes, stops mid-trial and bows his head in prayer. I'm laughing so hard, I'm going to barf!

At another point when al-Haidari referred to Saddam by name, the former leader interrupted, saying "Saddam who?" implying the proper respect hadn't been shown. The judge asked the witness whom he meant, and the witness restated: "I mean the former Iraqi president."

No connection to terrorism ... yeah, ok.

At another point in the trial, Saddam's half brother and intelligence director, Barazan Ibrahim, launched into an unruly exchange that was largely edited out of the televised feed. He called al-Haidari "a dog" and his dead brothers "rotten dogs." Guards entered the court and threatened to take him out, but Ibrahim wagged his finger at them, saying he could only be ordered to leave by the judge, who allowed him to stay.

Well, Barazan, it seems the dogs have come for theirs. Which can would you like to be placed into? Alpo or Skippy?

The court - which held its first session Oct. 19 - has now heard from 11 witnesses, who often gave emotional testimonies of random arrests, hunger and beatings while in custody and torture in detention.

Khamis al-Ubeidi, a member of Saddam's defense team, argued that the "witnesses have no legal value. Their testimonies are based on coaching and unjustified narrative."

So now personal experience is being characterized as "coaching and unjustified narrative". Kiss my hairy white ass.

He said the defense team had security concerns that it wanted to tell the court about.

THIS I gotta hear ...

"The court has to provide the lawyers and the defense witnesses with security," he told the AP on Tuesday. "How can a lawyer work if he cannot move freely because of the security situation?"

Dude, you are the one who made the choice to defend this animal. Deal with it.

Some Iraqi government officials have said they hope the trial will help heal the wounds of his regime's victims and bring Iraqis closer together.

That and some justice and/or closure for those who have been victimized.

But the trial has also highlighted divisions between Iraq's various ethnic and sectarian groups, with many Sunni Arabs expressing sympathy with the former president and even nostalgia for his era.

Oh well. You make the bed - you sleep in it.

By contrast, many Shiites and Kurds gloated over seeing the once powerful Saddam reduced to a defendant.

As did a certain Rocker, and it's going to be even more fun watching the video of the firing squad taking out the rat-bastard.

The Dujail case is the first of up to a dozen that prosecutors plan to bring against Saddam and his Baath Party inner circle for atrocities during their 23-year rule.

Again ... no ties to terrorism?

The trial is taking place in the five-story marble building that once served as the party's National Command Headquarters. The building in Baghdad's Green Zone - the heavily fortified district where Iraq's government, parliament and the U.S. Embassy are located - was heavily guarded.

Only to keep his sorry ass alive so that he can hear the words, "guilty as charged".

Saddam Hussein is lucky I haven't enlisted and volunteered for his guard detail. I wouldn't give a shit what the judge would think of me, nor would I be too concerned over whether the marks I left were visible. I'd start by branding my initials into his forehead.

RWR