Saddam Trial Proceeds Without Him

(CBS/AP)  The start of Saddam Hussein's trial was delayed Wednesday after the ousted president refused to attend the session, court officials said. Defense lawyers huddled with the judges in hopes of resolving the latest test of wills in the often-unruly trial.

Then the session proceeded without the ex-Iraqi president. Saddam's co-defendants and his lawyers were present in the courtroom when Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin convened the session at 3 p.m., about four hours late.

The judge, under pressure to appear fair but keep the trial moving, said the former dictator would be kept informed of what was happening in the courtroom. CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports that under Iraqi law, Saddam could sit out the rest of the trial if he chooses, but his defense team knows the Iraqi government really needs him present for the trial to be considered legitimate in the court of public opinion. The defense has used his presence as a bargaining chip, and Wednesday court officials discussed improving security for them and their families — something the defense has talked about for weeks.

The trial later adjourned until Dec. 21.

"The adjournment of the trial will give the judges the time to respond to written motions regarding the court's legitimacy and to address the issues of security," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk. "The delay will allow security forces to focus on the mid-December elections."

In other developments:

A suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt on a bus as it was about to depart for a Shiite city in the south, killing at least 12 people and wounding 27, police said.

In a full-length version of a tape previously broadcast, but posted on the Internet Wednesday, al Qaeda's deputy leader called for attacks against Gulf oil facilities and urged insurgent groups in Iraq to unite to drive out American forces. The Arab television network Al-Jazeera originally presented it as newly issued footage. A newscaster later told viewers the video was old.

Gunmen killed three police officers early Wednesday when they burst into a hospital in the northern city of Kirkuk and freed a wounded man who had been arrested for plotting to kill a judge in the Saddam Hussein trial, police said.

Insurgents released new video of four Christian peace activists who have been held hostage more than a week, reports Dozier. All four spoke, including American Tom Fox, who said, "We are being treated well, we are both well, all of us are well."

Al-Jazeera said Wednesday that the kidnappers of four Christian peace activists have extended their deadline by two days for the U.S. and British governments to meet their demand to release all prisoners.

The original deadline set by the Swords of Righteousness was Thursday but has been reset until Saturday, the station said.

In all seven Western hostages have been taken captive in the past two weeks, including what appears to be another American, identified as Ronald Shulz.

There's also been an abduction relating to Saddam's trial: gunmen grabbed the eight-year-old son of one of the court security guards. There've been no demands made, so the grieving father has painted his phone number on the side of his house, and is pleading with the kidnappers to call.

A U.S. soldier was killed when his vehicle hit a mine in western Iraq, the U.S. command said Wednesday. The soldier, assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, was on a combat patrol in Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad. Several U.S. Army units have been temporarily assigned to Marine units in Iraq.

Saddam will be told about the testimony of two witnesses Wednesday. Both were hidden behind a curtain around the witness box, their voices altered to protect their identities. They talked of being detained, beaten and tortured and imprisoned at Abu Ghraib prison, after an assassination attempt on Saddam in Dujail in 1982.

During the session, Saddam's half brother Barazan Ibrahim, head of Iraqi intelligence during the Dujail incident, offered his own complaints, telling the court that he had spent more than eight months in solitary confinement in a windowless facility without air conditioning, electricity or running water.

"I couldn't tell if it was day or night," he said.

"We are prisoners of the wealthiest and most powerful nation, yet, since four months ago, they are giving me six cigarettes a day from the worst brands."

Ibrahim sought to distance himself from the Dujail events, saying that his position as head of intelligence then was a "political post," and that the treatment of prisoners was not the responsibility of the security services.

"Once prisoners are handed over to prisons, they are the responsibility of the department of social affairs," he said. "I am not a jailer I am a political official."

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