Saddam accuses White House of lying

[cal04]

Saddam Hussein accused the White House on Thursday of lying about his alleged stockpiles of chemicals weapons and also about the claim he made on Wednesday that he was tortured in U.S. custody. Speaking at the start of the seventh session of his trial on charges of crimes against humanity, the former Iraqi president immediately rekindled his battle of words with Washington.

"The White House are liars. They said Iraq had chemical weapons," he told the court. "They lied again when they said that what Saddam said was wrong," he added, referring to a White House statement that his claims that he had been tortured were preposterous. On Wednesday, Saddam accused the Americans of beating him in custody and said he had bruises on his body to prove it. There were other theatrical moments during Thursday's hearings: the judge dismissed one of the courtroom guards after the defendants complained he had threatened them.

Saddam's half-brother and co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti accused the prosecutors of being former fellow members of the Baath party; and a prosecutor asked to be relieved of his duties because of insults from the dock -- a request dismissed by the judge. In one of the more conciliatory statements he has made since the trial began on October 19, Saddam said on Wednesday those guilty of the alleged torture of detainees described by witnesses should be punished, apparently distancing himself from the accusations. "When I hear that any Iraqi has been hurt it hurts me too," the 68-year-old former leader said. "The wrongs that were done to those people were wrong and, according to law, those who did it should get what they deserve."

Saddam and his seven co-defendants are charged with ordering the killing of 148 people from the mainly Shi'ite village of Dujail, north of Baghdad, in the 1980s. Prosecutors say Saddam ordered the killings in reprisal for a failed bid to assassinate him in the village in 1982. Scores of families from Dujail were rounded up and shunted between jails around Iraq for four years after the attack.

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=6336854&cKey=1135245931000

[rpannier]

1. The White House Lied?????????

How could he say that? I mean, I know it's true.
But as the old adage goes...It takes one to know one. Sadaam and scrubbie both are liars.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Get in line, Saddam.......

you aren't the only one and you're at the back of the line right now. We have a duty to our own country first and the complaints of a murderous dictator (gee, that could describe our own president, couldn't it?) are first and foremost. Sorry, you'll have to wait your turn.

[EFerrari]

3. We're come full circle, haven't we?

There's nothing we can say about Saddam that isn't true of Bush.

And, btw, what do we really know about Saddam -- except that we put him in power?

This man won't live through his trial. They'll have to have him killed.

[Bike Punk]

6. Killed? no way

He's already proved his own insaity. He is no longer a threat, if he ever was. He is easily dismissable by this adminisrtation, and it will take years... DECADES for the REAL story to come out. If it ever does, that is.

[EFerrari]

14. He sounds sane enough to me. The little we get to really

hear, anyway.

[Raster]

21. We haven't come full circle. To do that we'd have to put him back

back in power AGAIN, sell him some very expensive AND deadly weapons, and then look the other way while he commits general atrocities and brutalizes his neighbors. Then, very patriotically, we smack the snot out of him. They won't off him. If jeb bush* has any presidential aspirations, he's gonna need saddam.

[0rganism]

23. I wouldn't be surprised, at this point

Saddam was the gift that just kept on giving for the last four American presidents. Unfortunately, bush went and slaughtered the goose, so no more golden eggs from here on out. bush's foreign policy is sufficiently full of non-sequiter and plain old stupidity that I'm not going to rule out a reinstatement until Saddam is convicted and executed.

[liberal N proud]

4. Get out of here - The White House would never lie

Would they?
Please tell me they have never lied to us.

HA, HA, HA, HA, HA

:sarcasm:

[LostinVA]

5. A sad day indeed, when I actually believe Saddam more than

our government... I think he at least occasionally tells the truth.

[HuffleClaw]

7. hmmm, who to believe, who to believe?

let us see. saddam said he had no wmd. bush said he did. to date, none have been found. bush lied about the weapons inspectors being 'kicked out of iraq'. ok, they WERE kicked out of iraq, but it was bush who did the kicking. saddam claims he's been tortured. bush says 'we dont' torture', yet at least one iraqi general died at the hands of us military interrogators and we all know about the other torture that happened at abu grhraib and elsewhere. i'm gonna have to go with saddam as the more trustworthy.

[katsy]

8. Hmmm....

<<<< Saddam and his seven co-defendants are charged with ordering the killing of 148 people from the mainly Shi'ite village of Dujail, north of Baghdad, in the 1980s.>>>>


What an idiot!

He should have just arranged for secret torture flights like *.

[maxrandb]

12. The entire Saddam trial is a joke

If they seriously wanted justice, they would try him at the Hague, or another International Court, and they would try him for illegally possessing weapons of mass destruction, or any other hosts of atrocities he has committed more recently.

The only reason they won't do that, is they don't want the photos of a chuckling, smiling Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with the "Butcher of Baghdad" after he gassed some Iranians.

They also don't want any of the secret dealings between Saddam, Reagan and Bush 41 coming out. You know that period of time when he was such a good friend of ours (and were not supposed to question these peoples judgement). Notice that none of the crimes he committed after 1980 are being pursued.

I've served this country honorably for more than 20 years in uniform. I guess that since I think this trial is a joke, that makes me a Saddamist. :crazy:

[Jeanette in FL]

9. A Quote from Scotty

"That's one of the most preposterous things I've heard from Saddam Hussein recently," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Washington in response.

[Evergreen Emerald]

10. Keep it in the news Scotty

With a slight of hand and a slick-of-tongue, Scotty attempts to distract us with evil Saddam quotes while * and company continue to bulldoze the path of destruction upon our Constitution.

[daleo]

19. Not an actual denial, though. n/t

[0007]

24. That's exactly how McClellen said it!

"That's one of the most preposterous things I've heard from Saddam Hussein recently,"

My jaw dropped like a rock to the floor on that one!

[maxrandb]

11. Look out for the Rush and Bushbot's "Strawman"

Rush: "It's just like I told you folks. Saddam has adopted the DemoncRATs defense strategy; 'Bush is a liar, Bush is Hitler, Bush lied, people died'! Now the DemocRAT Party is aligned with the Saddamists. I told you so"

It's amazing the way the logic of these idiots works.

- Democrats call Bush a liar
- Saddam calls Bush a liar

ergo

- Democrats are Saddam.

It must be great to think so simply. NO HEAVY LIFTING INVOLVED.

anyway, Dems better be ready for it. Call it the "swift Saddaming". It's coming, mark my words.

[seeminer21]

13. Sadly...

I think you're right.

[Nickster]

15. In other news......sky still blue.....

[raysr]

16. I bet they don't get

anything out of that tough bird!

[Lisa]

17. evidently he's been "out of the loop" for quite a long time!

I daresay most of us were aware of this much earlier.

[daleo]

18. Well he's right about weapons of mass destruction

That is incontrovertible now. The allegations of beatings are not hard to believe, given what we know in general.

[rman]

20. Going on the assumption that most of what the govt has said about Saddam

is lies, i'd think Saddam must have a pretty strong defense.

[MisterP]

22. "The lion does not care about a monkey laughing at him from a tree"

--Saddam to a giggly heckler(?)