Saddam Hussein returned to court Wednesday for the first time since his hunger strike and hospitalization, complaining he had been forced to attend the proceedings and asking to be executed by firing squad if the court sentences him to death.
"I was brought against my will directly from the hospital," Saddam told the chief judge. "The Americans insisted that I come against my will. This is not fair."
According to the AP, he asked the court to execute him by firing squad - "not by hanging as a common criminal" - if it convicts him of all charges and sentences him to death. "I ask you being an Iraqi person that if you reach a verdict of death, execution, remember that I am a military man and should be killed by firing squad," he said.
Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman reminded Saddam that the trial was still under way and that the court had not reached a verdict.
As the session started Wednesday, Saddam was allowed to make a statement, beginning with a verse from the Quran, in which he challenged the validity and impartiality of the court. He then repeated his claim that the panel is an illegal instrument of the American occupation.
As he argued with the chief judge, Saddam raised his hands, pointed his finger and said: "Not even 1,000 people like you can terrify me." "The invaders only understand the language of the gun," Saddam said. "I am in prison but the knights outside will liberate the country."
During one of Saddam's outbursts, Abdel-Rahman accused the ex-president of inciting violence against Iraqis. Saddam responded: "I am inciting the killing of Americans and invaders, not the killing of Iraqis. I am Saddam Hussein. I call Iraqis to be in harmony and work on evicting the invaders."
The judge told him that "insurgents" are killing an average of 60 Iraqis every day. "Why are they attacking Iraqis in coffee shops and markets? Why don't they go detonate themselves among Americans?" he asked. Saddam replied: "This case is not worth the urine of an Iraqi child."
Saddam then said he had told his followers "that if you see an American vehicle and you can strike it" but the judge turned off his microphones before the former leader could finish.
Earlier, Saddam told the judge that "if you were a real Iraqi, you would know that your country is going through extraordinary conditions." "We not only resist this occupation. We do not acknowledge it. We do not acknowledge all the decisions it has made, including appointing the so-called government and this court you represent," Saddam said.
Abdel-Rahman interrupted, saying "you were not brought here against your will. Here's the medical report ... and it indicates that you are in good shape." "I didn't say I was ill," Saddam snapped back. "I was on a hunger strike."
