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Hussein trial reopens, then adjourns

Saddam Hussein lectures the judge on Monday in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - A combative Saddam Hussein lashed out Monday at his treatment by American "occupiers and invaders" and lectured the chief judge about leadership as his trial resumed in a rambling and unfocused session.

Two of the seven other defendants also spoke out during the 21/2-hour hearing, complaining of their treatment in detention or dissatisfaction with their court-appointed counsel.

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who has joined the defense team as an adviser, said it was "extremely difficult" to assure fairness in the trial "because the passions in the country are at a fever pitch."

"How can you ask a witness to come in when there's a death threat?" Clark told CNN. "Unless there's protection for the defense, I don't know how the trial can go forward."

The tribunal adjourned until Monday, only 10 days before the country's parliamentary elections, to give the defense time to replace lawyers who have been assassinated since the trial opened Oct. 19. This was the trial's second session.

The court's tolerance of vocal complaints from the defendants drew sharp criticism from Shiite politicians who contend the tribunal is trying too hard to accommodate an ousted dictator who should have already been convicted and executed.

"The chief judge should be changed and replaced by someone who is strict and courageous," said Shiite legislator Ali al-Adeeb, a senior official in Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's party.

Hussein, immaculately groomed and the only defendant wearing Western clothes, moved quickly to try to seize control of the proceedings at the heavily guarded Baghdad court.

While other defendants appeared frightened and exhausted, Hussein, 68, swaggered confidently to his seat, greeting people along the way with the traditional Arabic greeting, "Peace be upon the people of peace" as he cradled a copy of the Koran.

Hussein began with a verse from the Muslim holy book that reminds believers who aspire for heaven that God knows who actually participated in jihad, or holy war.

He then complained that he had to walk up four flights of stairs in shackles and accompanied by "foreign guards" because the elevator was not working.

The chief judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, said he would tell the police not to let that happen again.

"You are the chief judge," Hussein snapped back, speaking like a president to a subordinate. "I don't want you to tell them. I want you to order them. They are in our country. You have the sovereignty. You are Iraqi and they are foreigners and occupiers. They are invaders. You should order them."

The tribunal allowed Clark and prominent lawyers from Qatar and Jordan to join the defense team as advisers, a move aimed at convincing foreign human rights groups that the trial would meet international standards of fairness.

Also, the chief judge ordered all handcuffs and shackles removed from the defendants before they entered the courtroom.

The defendants stand accused of killing more than 140 Shiite Muslims after an assassination attempt against Hussein in 1982. Convictions could bring a sentence of death by hanging.

Two Britons killed when bus ambushed

BAGHDAD - Gunmen ambushed a bus Monday carrying British Muslims to Shiite shrines, killing two Britons and wounding three. The U.S. Embassy confirmed an American is missing in Iraq - presumably one of four aid workers who disappeared over the weekend.

Also Monday, two Sunni Arab politicians were slain in separate attacks.

U.S. commanders hand off bases

WASHINGTON - A growing number of Iraqi troop battalions - nearly four dozen as of this week - are playing lead roles in the fight against the insurgency, and American commanders have turned over more than two dozen U.S.-established bases to Iraqi government control, officials said Monday.

Those are among the signs of progress that the Bush administration is citing as evidence that the Iraqis want more responsibility on the security front.

[Last modified November 29, 2005, 02:15:28]