Saddam's Lawyer To Ask For Delay

The lawyer for Saddam Hussein said Tuesday he will ask a tribunal for a three-month adjournment of the former Iraqi dictator's trial for a 1982 massacre.

Saddam and seven senior members of his 23-year regime go on trial Wednesday to face charges they ordered the killings of nearly 150 people from the mainly Shiite town of Dujail following a failed attempt on Saddam's life.

Khalil al-Duleimi told The Associated Press he would ask during Wednesday's opening session for more time to prepare Saddam's defense and arrange for Arab and Western lawyers to join him in the defense team.

The Iraqi Special Tribunal was first established during occupation and later authorized by the post-Saddam Iraqi government, said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk. Hussein's lawyers are expected to challenge the legitimacy of the court and to assert Hussein's sovereign immunity, Falk reports.

"The most important aspect of the trial is that it is perceived to be fair and not merely 'victor's justice' but rather have internationally accepted procedures," Falk said. "The prosecution will have to avoid the pitfall of allowing the trial to be a vehicle for Saddam Hussein to speak publicly and create a voice in Iraqi politics."

CBS News correspondent Lara Logan, one of the few reporters who will be allowed into the courtroom in Baghdad, reports the trial will be held in a secret location inside the heavily fortified government "Green Zone" in the capital.

The massacre that will be the focus of the proceedings got very little international attention when it took place, Logan reports. More than 20 years later, the people of Dujail still come to a makeshift memorial to mourn, clutching worn copies of the execution order signed by Saddam Hussein that lists over 140 men from the town.

One woman told Logan that more than 400 people were executed, so executing Saddam once is not enough. He should be executed 400 times, she said.

Al-Duleimi met with Saddam for 90 minutes Tuesday at a location other than the usual place of detention for the ousted Iraqi leader. Al-Duleimi would not elaborate.

Saddam's location has been kept secret since his capture by American troops in December 2003, but it is believed that he has been held at a U.S. facility at Baghdad International Airport.

Saddam was in high spirits and "very optimistic" on the eve of the start of his trial, al-Duleimi said.

"I have just left him five minutes ago. His morale is very, very, very high and he is very optimistic and confident of his innocence, although the court is ... unjust," al-Duleimi said.

The trial dates back to what happened on Dujail's streets back in 1982, when Shiite gunmen fired on Saddam's motorcade. The punishment that followed was brutal, with whole families tortured and imprisoned for years, Logan said.

She spoke with a man whose farm was among the many destroyed in retribution. His father and brother were both killed. "I would drink Saddam's blood and then burn his body," he told Logan.

Others wished Saddam much worse.

But, Logan said, Dujail was always enemy territory for Saddam, a Shiite enclave just 60 miles from his hometown of Tikrit, where CBS News found many people who are still loyal to the former Iraqi dictator.

Former Brigadier General Abdul Salam, who served in Saddam's army for 26 years, said people here call the trial a disaster.

"Of course it will be very bad reactions for some people," he said.

How will he feel?

"Of course, very bad, because this man was my leader."

Saddam will look less like a leader and more like an ordinary convict when he's brought to court Wednesday shackled in chains amid what Logan said "we're promised is going to be the highest security ever seen" in Baghdad.

"I'm not even allowed to take a notebook and a pen with me into the court," Logan told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm Tuesday. "Those will be supplied. And I can't give you too many details because the threat level is considered to be so high.

"But I can tell you that the building is supposed to be somewhere near Saddam's old palace, from where he ruled this country, and where he kept his gifts. And millions and millions of dollars have been spent fortifying the building for security."

Saddam could face the death penalty.

"If he's convicted," Logan said, "once all the appeals have been exhausted, the rules do allow for him to be executed within 30 days of that."