Saddam Hussein accused his American captors of torturing him, claiming at his trial today that he had been beaten “everywhere on my body.” A Shiite witness testified that the former Iraqi leader’s agents had tortured people by ripping off their skin.

A noticeably calmer Saddam Hussein sat quietly in his defendant’s chair at the resumption of his trial today, two weeks after he called the court “unjust” and boycotted a session. When the judge refused to let him take a break to pray, the former leader closed his eyes and appeared to pray from his seat.

ANY delay in Iraq’s January 30 elections would lead to civil war and a “bloodbath” in the country, the interim government’s national security advisor warned yesterday.

Gunmen assassinated the governor of Baghdad province and six of his bodyguards in an ambush today, and a suicide tanker truck bomber killed 10 people at an Interior Ministry commando headquarters in western Baghdad.

Gunmen assassinated the governor of the Iraqi province that includes Baghdad, Ali al-Haidari, today, police officials said.