Saddam: 'Down With Bush'

(CBS/AP)  Saddam Hussein shouted "Down with Bush" after being forced to attend his trial Monday. The former dictator's top co-defendant struggled with guards bringing him in and sat on the floor, his back to the judge, for much of the session.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants had vowed not to attend the trial until the return of their lawyers. The defense team has said it is boycotting the proceedings until chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman is removed, alleging he is biased against their clients.

Saddam entered the courtroom on his own at the start of Monday's session, but he looked weary and argued immediately with the judge, shouting slogans against President Bush.

"They have forcibly brought me here," he told Abdel-Rahman. "Exercise your right to try me in absentia."

Saddam shouted, "Down with the agents. Down with Bush. Long live the nation," as he entered the room, CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports. He wore a blue galabeya, a traditional Arab robe and a black jacket, a stark contrast to the tailored black suits he has worn to past sessions.

After the stormy start, prosecutors put on the stand two members of Saddam's regime for the first time and produced documents trying to link the former Iraqi leader directly to torture and executions that allegedly took place in a 1982 crackdown in the Shiite town of Dujail.

The two witnesses — Ahmed Hussein Khudayer al-Samarrai, the head of Saddam's presidential office, and Hassan al-Obeidi, an intelligence officer — complained they were being forced to testify.

Al-Samarrai, who held his post from 1984-1991 and then again from 1995 until the fall of the regime in April 2003, insisted he knew nothing about the events in Dujail.

"I am not fit to be a witness in this case," al-Samarrai told the court, bringing a smile from Saddam.

Prosecutors produced a 1984 document in Arabic allegedly signed by al-Samarrai stating that Saddam ratified "the execution of the Dujail detainees."

Asked whether the signature was his handwriting, al-Samarrai said he could not be sure. "I don't remember," he said. "I don't remember anything at all."

Al-Obeidi, who worked as a manager in the Mukhabarat, or intelligence agency, from 1980-1991, said guards had forced him to testify then argued with the prosecutor over his role, bringing laughter from Saddam.

After the three-hour session, chief judge Abdel-Rahman adjourned the court until Tuesday.

Twenty-six prosecution witnesses have testified since the trial began Oct. 19, many providing heart-wrenching accounts of torture and years of imprisonment in the crackdown launched in the wake of a 1984 attempt on Saddam's life in Dujail. But none directly linked Saddam to their ordeal.

In an apparent attempt to speed up the proceedings, investigating judges read short affidavits by 23 more witnesses Monday rather than having them take the stand. Their testimony resembled that of past witnesses.

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