SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS CROSS-EXAMINED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS SIX-MONTH-OLD TRIAL WEDNESDAY, SAYING HE APPROVED DEATH SENTENCES AGAINST SHIITES IN THE 1980S BECAUSE HE BELIEVED THE EVIDENCE HAD PROVEN THEY WERE INVOLVED IN AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST HIM. SADDAM, STANDING ALONE AS THE SOLE DEFENDANT IN THE COURTROOM, DODGED SOME QUESTIONS FROM PROSECUTORS OVER HIS ROLE IN A CRACKDOWN AGAINST SHIITES IN THE 1980S, GIVING LONG SPEECHES CALLING THE COURT 'ILLEGITIMATE.' HE ACCUSED THE CURRENT SHIITE-LED INTERIOR MINISTRY OF KILLING AND TORTURING THOUSANDS OF IRAQIS AND BICKERED WITH CHIEF JUDGE RAOUF ABDEL-RAHMAN, ACCORDING TO A REPORT OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. THE SESSION CAME A DAY AFTER PROSECUTORS INDICTED SADDAM ON SEPARATE CHARGES OF GENOCIDE, ACCUSING HIM OF TRYING TO EXTERMINATE KURDS IN A 1980S CAMPAIGN THAT KILLED AN ESTIMATED 100,000 PEOPLE. THE CHARGES WILL BE DEALT WITH IN A SEPARATE TRIAL.
