'I am president of Iraq. This is all theatre, the real criminal is Bush'
Saddam was handcuffed when brought to the court but the shackles were removed for the 30-minute arraignment at Camp Victory, one of his former palaces on the outskirts of Baghdad.
"I am Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq," Saddam twice said, according to a reporter in an official media pool. He was alternately downcast and defiant, becoming more animated in his exchanges with the judge as the hearing went on.
In his first public appearance since he was captured seven months ago, Saddam refused to sign a list of charges against him unless a lawyer was present, and he questioned the court's jurisdiction.
"Please allow me not to sign until the lawyers are present ... anyhow, when you take a procedure to bring me here again, present me with all these papers with the presence of lawyers. Why would you behave in a manner that we might call hasty later on?" he said.
One foreign lawyer hired by Saddam's wife to represent him said the court's refusal to allow a defence lawyer to be present was a breach of his human rights.
Saddam refused to recognise he was guilty of a crime in invading Kuwait in 1990, jabbing his finger toward the judge and saying: "I'm surprised you're charging me with that as an Iraqi when everyone knows that Kuwait is part of Iraq."
The judge told him these were legal procedures, but Saddam interrupted him. "Law, what law?" he asked.
"You are putting Saddam on trial when the Kuwaitis said they could buy Iraqi women for 10 dinars on the street. The Iraqi soldiers went to defend the honour of Iraq, so what right do these dogs have?" he said, drawing a reprimand from the judge.
"This is all a theatre," Saddam said. ""The real criminal is Bush."
Saddam arrived in a US helicopter at a military base and was then driven in an armoured bus to the makeshift courtroom in one of his former palaces near Baghdad airport.
Hearing the charge that he ordered the gassing of thousands of Kurds in an attack at Halabja in 1988, Saddam shrugged it off, saying he had heard of the incident through the media.
The seven broad charges against Saddam are:
* the killing of religious figures in 1974
* gassing of Kurds in Halabja in 1988
* killing the Kurdish Barzani clan in 1983
* killing members of political parties in the last 30 years
* the 1986-88 "Anfal" campaign of displacing Kurds
* the suppression of the 1991 uprisings by Kurds and Shiites
* the 1990 invasion of Kuwait
A formal indictment with specific charges is expected later, said Salem Chalabi, director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Those were expected to include war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The trial is not expected until 2005.
Saddam wore a charcoal-coloured, pinstriped jacket with a white shirt open at the collar, and black trousers and shoes. He often stroked his trimmed, grey-and-black beard and had heavy bags under his eyes. He sat calmly, gesturing while addressing the court and sometimes taking notes on a piece of yellow paper.
His appearance was in sharp contrast to the video taken of him after his December capture, when he looked heavier, his beard was longer and his hair was grey and unkempt.
The 67-year-old Saddam was seated in front of the judge, with a wooden bar separating the two. The video showed the judge from behind and the side.
When asked if he could afford a lawyer, Saddam retorted: "The Americans say I have millions hidden in Switzerland. How can I not have the money to pay for one?"
Saddam was ushered into the courtroom guarded by six Iraqi police. The armoured bus was escorted by four Humvees and an ambulance.
At one point, according to a commentary by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, Saddam asked the judge whether he would be tried under laws from his rule.
Saddam told the court that the US and multinational troops in Iraq were not "coalition troops but invasion troops", according to Al-Jazeera.
Saddam insisted the judge refer to him as the "president of the Republic of Iraq" because "this would be respecting the will of the people", according to Al-Jazeera.
Strict pool arrangements severely limited media access to the hearing. The pool video, which was cleared by the US military, was initially broadcast without sound, but parts were later released with sound.
The only journalist working for an Iraqi publication, Sadiq Rahman of the newspaper Azzaman, was ordered out of the courtroom by the judge 10 minutes before the hearing began.
One Iraqi working for the pan-Arab Shaq al-Awsat newspaper was allowed to attend.
"Unfortunately, they are already being unfair to Iraqi journalists," Rahman said afterwards, noting that US television reporters were allowed inside in addition to the pool.
Saddam and 11 of his top lieutenants were transferred to Iraqi custody yesterday. They are no longer prisoners of war but are still locked up, with US forces as their jailers.
"The next legal step would be that the investigations start proper with investigative judges and investigators beginning the process of gathering evidence," Chalabi said.
"Down the line, there will be an indictment, if there is enough evidence obviously, and a timetable starts with respect to a trial date."
President Ghazi al-Yawer told an Arab newspaper that Iraq's new government decided to reinstate the death penalty, which was suspended during the US occupation.
US and Iraqi officials hope the trial will lay bare the atrocities of Saddam's regime and help the country recover from years of tyranny, the US-led invasion and the insurgency that blossomed in its aftermath.
But the trial could have the opposite effect, possibly widening the chasm among Iraq's disparate groups Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis.
"It's going to be the trial of the century," National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said.
"Everybody is going to watch this trial, and we are going to demonstrate to the outside world that we in the new Iraq are going to be an example of what the new Iraq is all about."
Saddam had arrived in a blue jumpsuit, but was given a suit to wear that came off the rack from a Baghdad store attire that would not be humiliating but also not flashy.
Saddam was heard before he was seen, his chains clanking as he walked down the corridor.
When he first sat down, he was visibly nervous his eyes roving left to right. He was particularly interested in the Iraqis in the room, especially Chalabi and al-Rubaie, who were to his right.
His mood ranged from nervousness and exasperation to contempt and defiance even anger. He even seemed to lecture the judge at times.
He used his hands constantly, poking the air, dragging a thumb across his eyebrow, brushing a fly from his cheek.
Many Iraqis want Saddam to be executed, though some say they would prefer him to suffer a more protracted punishment.
"They should put Saddam in a cage and send him around the world in a travelling zoo so everyone can see the monster as he is," said Baghdad shopkeeper Samir Majid.
"This trial is great news," Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati said.
"It's a trial of the regime that committed the most terrible crimes in the world. I think the Iraqi people will be satisfied with the death penalty and no less than that," he said.
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