Saddam Defiant Again As Kurd Gassing Trial Begins

He’s no longer in charge, but Saddam Hussein refuses to act like it.

The deposed Iraqi dictator was involved in another defiant outburst in court Monday, as his second trial began.

As graphic as some testimony from his earlier case – in which he and seven others are accused of killing 148 Shiite Muslims in a small town in 1982 – this one promises to potentially be even worse.

The former leader is accused of genocide and war crimes in his offensive against the Kurds. Saddam is believed responsible for ordering the gassing of tens of thousands of people who simply wanted to declare their independence from Iraq.

It’s tough to get an estimate on the number of dead in those offensives, but experts place it anywhere between 50,000-100,000.

Survivors are expected to recount agonizing details of seeing their villages destroyed and watching as their loved ones disappeared forever without a trace. Mass burial grounds would later be found by allied troops.

Saddam is also thought to have used banned chemical weapons against the Kurds, including mustard gas and nerve agents. Those are the same deadly arms the U.S. used to justify its foray into the country. While many believe they are now in Syria, the weapons have never been located.

Those who survived the brutality are anxious to tell their stories.

“It’s time for humanity to know … the magnitude and scale of the crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan,” lead prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon vows in his opening statement. “Entire villages were razed to the ground, as if killing the people wasn’t enough. Wives waited for their husbands, families waited for their children to return — but to no avail.”

But in a pattern that quickly became apparent in his first trial, an angry and defiant Saddam refused to enter a plea and shouted at prosecutors about their right to accuse him of anything.

He was especially incensed when prosecutors recalled Kurdish women being raped in prison.

“I can never accept the claim that an Iraqi woman was raped while Saddam is president,” he roared in the third person, banging on a podium in front of him. “How could I walk with my head up? An Iraqi woman raped while Saddam is the leader?” he bellowed again and again.

Saddam is accused along with six others, including his former right hand man, Ali Hassan al-Majid, who allegedly led the operation and became known to the world as “Chemical Ali”.

It’s not known how long this proceeding might take, but if Saddam is convicted in either trial, he could face the death penalty. The first case could be decided by October 16th.

• The new trial doesn’t deal with the most notorious gassing — the March 1988 attack on Halabja that killed an estimated 5,000 Kurds. That incident will be part of a separate investigation by the Iraqi High Tribunal.