Those 80,000 Kurds had it coming
Well, Saddam decided that the court was worth his time after all. Instead of hunger striking, refusing to acknowledge the court's authority over him, or calling for the removal of Americans from his country and reinstating himself as potentate over Iraq, Saddam decided to address his captors from the witness stand!
From Reuters:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein formally took the stand in his trial for the first time on Wednesday after earlier acknowledging in court that he gave orders which led to the killing of 148 Shi'ite men in the 1980s.
He called the court a "comedy against Saddam Hussein and his comrades."
The former Iraqi leader and seven co-accused, including former top aides, are charged with the killing of 148 people from the mostly Shi'ite Muslim town of Dujail after a bid to assassinate him there in 1982.
During his last appearance on March 1, Saddam said he had ordered the 148 to be tried but justified the sentences as entirely legal, saying: "Where is the crime?"
He also acknowledged razing farmland around Dujail owned by those alleged to have carried out the attack on him. Prosecutors hope the Dujail case will prove more clear-cut than other, more complex cases involving charges of genocide where Saddam's responsibility may be more difficult to prove.
Oh sure, those guys totally had it coming. I mean, each and every one of those 148 people were completely guilty, as he determined guilt while the canisters of chemical gas were exploding around the criminals...
Yeah, this is gonna be a long but entertaining trial. Hopefully Saddam will see it through, unlike Slobodan Milosevic.