IRAQ today PHOTO BY
IRAQ today PHOTO BY KHALID MOHAMMED/AP Saddam calls on Iraqis to fight Americans BY BASSEM MROUE BAGHDAD, Iraq/AP The judge shouted that he was no longer Iraq’ s president, but Saddam Hussein wasn’ t listening. He kept addressing the Iraqi people as if he were still their leader, calling on them in a rambling speech to fight the Americans. Finally, chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman in frustration ordered journalists out of the courtroom in March 15’ s stormy session of Saddam’ s trial and turned off the cameras for 90 minutes. Saddam was called into court to testify for the first time and undergo questioning on charges he ordered the killing of 148 Shiites and the imprisonment and torture of others during a crackdown in the 1980s. Instead, Saddam, dressed in a black suit and wearing large reading glasses, read from a prepared text, addressing the “ great Iraqi people’ ’ — a phrase he often used in his presidential speeches — and said he was “ pained’ ’ by the wave of Sunni-Shiite violence tearing Iraq apart in recent weeks. “ Let the people unite and resist the invaders and their backers. Don’ t fight among yourselves,’ ’ he said, praising the insurgency. “ In your resistance to the invasion by the Americans and Zionists and their allies, you were great. You were great in my eyes and you remain so. ... It’ s only a matter of time until the sun rises and you’ ll be victorious,’ ’ he said. When Abdel-Rahman told him to discuss his role in the crackdown in the Shiite town of Dujail “ as head of state at the time,’ ’ Saddam retorted, “ I am the head of state.’ ’ “ You used to be a head of state. You are a defendant now,’ ’ Abdel-Rahman barked. Saddam Hussein argues with the chief judge while testifying during his trial in Baghdad on March 15. The stormy exchanges were a stark contrast to the past few sessions, when each of Saddam’ s seven codefendants took the stand, one by one, and were questioned by the judge and prosecutor about the Dujail crackdown, launched after a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam. Even Saddam’ s half brother, former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim — who has frequently caused an uproar in the court in the past — submitted to more than three hours of questioning earlier that day. He denied any role in the crackdown, and as prosecutors presented a series of intelligence memos on the arrests allegedly with his signatures, he insisted each was a forgery. Prosecutors will have another chance to try to question Saddam on the charges when the trial next convenes on April 5. In the March 15 session, Saddam sought to project the image of a man still in power addressing his people in troubled times, even as Abdel-Rahman repeatedly stabbed a button on his desk to shut off Saddam’ s microphone. At one point, Abdel-Rahman screamed at him, “ Respect yourself!’ ’ Saddam shouted back, “ You respect yourself!’ ’ “ You are a defendant in a major criminal case, concerning the killing of innocents. You have to respond to this charge,’ ’ Abdel-Rahman told him. “ What about those who are dying in Baghdad? Are they not innocents?’ ’ Saddam replied. “ I am talking to the Iraqi people.’ ’ Saddam began his speech by declaring he was the elected president, telling Iraqis “ of all religions and sects ... I do not discriminate among you.’ ’ PHOTO BY JACOB SILBERBERG, POOL/AP Iraqi Catholics donate to rebuild Samarra Mosque KIRKUK, Iraq/Zenit Iraqi Catholics are taking up a collection for the reconstruction of the destroyed Samarra mosque, said Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk. The gesture of solidarity comes in the wake of the January 29 attacks against two churches in Kirkuk, which claimed the lives of a 13-year-old acolyte, Fadi Raad Elias, and other Catholics. Those attacks were linked to the Western publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed. “ We are not facing civil war; it would be the end of Iraq and no one wants this,” said Archbishop Sako. “ Iraqis are aware that Above: An Iraqi soldier Saddam Hussein abused stands guard on them,” the Chaldean archbishop added. “ In particular, a Shiite Mosque the broken wall of his regime killed many damaged by Shiites and these people insurgents, outside Samarra, are now seeking vengeance 60 miles north for the injustices suffered up of Baghdad. to a few years ago.” Archbishop Sako told the Italian bishops’ SIR news service that another goal of Shiite violence, since the attack on the Shiite mosque in Samarra, “ is to obtain by force more posts in the government.” The archbishop said he believes that “ it is necessary to be at the side of our faithful to give them all possible support. I try to encourage them so that they will not be discouraged. If someone wants us to abandon the country, we will show that we are not afraid, that we are strong and that we are profoundly tied to our country.” He said that he has visited “ the Muslim leaders to express to them my total solidarity over the destruction of the mosque of Samarra.” “ I have confirmed once again that we Christians repudiate the attacks against the people of Islam, as we consider abominable every crime against any place of worship,” Archbishop Sako said. “ In our community we are collecting money which we will contribute toward the mosque’ s reconstruction.” Reprinted courtesy of the Assyrian International News Agency (aina.org). 24 CHALDEAN NEWS APRIL 2006
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