Saddam genocide trial resumes
Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial against the Kurds resumed in Baghdad today, a day after the ex-president predicted that insurgents would soon drive US-led forces out of Iraq.
Saddam and his six co-defendants were present when the court proceedings began, the first session for six days.
In an open letter to Iraqis that his lawyers released yesterday, Saddam said Iraq’s “liberation is at hand” – an apparent attempt to cast himself as a statesman as Iraq teeters on the brink of civil war and the United States weighs what to do next.
Many Iraqis believe that the United States has decided to begin pulling out of Iraq, despite US President George Bush’s denials.
“The hour of liberation is at hand, God willing. But remember that your near-term goal is confined to freeing your country from the forces of occupation and their followers, and not to be preoccupied in settling scores,” Saddam wrote in the Arabic-language letter, which he dictated to his lawyers at the weekend.
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