Saddam, Defense Team To Boycott Trial

Lawyer Says Deposed Leader Protesting New Chief Judge

(CBS/AP)  Saddam Hussein and his lawyers will boycott the next session of the deposed leader's trial in Baghdad to protest the alleged "bias" of the new chief judge appointed to hear the case, his chief lawyer told The Associated Press Monday.

"There is an unanimous decision by the defense team to not attend Wednesday's hearing because of the comedy we witnessed in yesterday's trial," Iraqi lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said as he arrived in Jordan from neighboring Iraq.

Al-Dulaimi said the ousted leader would refuse to attend. "If he was forced to attend, he won't sit in the place designated for him, but will stand in a corner to protest against the measures taken by the judge."

"The court hearing yesterday lacked the basics of a fair and honest trial, and the judge was biased against the defendants, who under the law are innocent until proven guilty," al-Dulaimi said.

On Sunday, a new judge cracked down on a chaotic session of Saddam's trial, ordering a co-defendant and Jordanian lawyer Saleh Armouti expelled from the courtroom. The entire defense team left in protest and Saddam was escorted out after a shouting match in which he yelled, "Down with America!"

Despite the turmoil in the courtroom, chief judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman pushed ahead, replacing the defense lawyers with court-appointed attorneys and heard three prosecution witnesses before adjourning the trial until Wednesday.

In other developments:

ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff, seriously hurt by a roadside bomb in Iraq, has shown signs of improvement and may be airlifted to the United States as soon as Tuesday, the network's news president said Monday. Cameraman Doug Vogt, also hurt in the explosion, is in better shape than Woodruff but doctors were pleased with how both are doing.

The new U.S. general who runs the Iraq war plans to pursue a strategy aimed at improving Iraqis' quality of life to undercut the support base for the insurgents among disaffected Iraqis. Army Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, who became the No. 2 commander in Iraq last week, said he would employ across Iraq many of the strategies he used to quell uprisings in Baghdad when he led the Army's 1st Cavalry Division in 2003 and 2004.

In eastern Ramadi, two armed men fired at least five rocket-propelled grenade rounds and small arms fire at a group of U.S. Army soldiers, said U.S. Marine Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool. "The soldiers returned fire and called in a jet nearby to attack the insurgents' position with their main gun," Pool said. The two insurgents were killed in the clash, but there were no U.S. casualties.

A suicide car bomber slammed into a commando headquarters were police were training in Nasiriyah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding more than 30 others, said an Iraqi police official who declined to be identified further because of fears of retaliation from insurgents.

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©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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