A defiant Saddam Hussein appears at hearing in court

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A defiant Saddam Hussein rejected charges of war crimes and genocide in a court appearance Thursday, telling a judge in his first public appearance since his arrest: "This is all theater, the real criminal is Bush."

Saddam was handcuffed when brought to the court but the shackles were removed for the 30-minute arraignment at Camp Victory, one of his former palaces on the outskirts of Baghdad.

"I am Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq," Saddam said unprompted, sitting down in a chair facing the judge on the other side of a wooden railing. When asked his name, he repeated it in full: "Saddam Hussein al-Majid, president of Iraq."

The appearance, broadcast on Arab satellite television stations, gave Iraqis their first glimpse of the former dictator since his capture by the U.S. military seven months ago. They saw a Saddam whose mood ranged from nervousness and exasperation to contempt and defiance — even flashes of anger. He even seemed to lecture the judge at times.

Unaccompanied by a lawyer, Saddam refused to sign a list of charges against him unless he had legal counsel, and he questioned the court's jurisdiction.

"Please allow me not to sign until the lawyers are present. ... Anyhow, when you take a procedure to bring me here again, present me with all these papers with the presence of lawyers. Why would you behave in a manner that we might call hasty later on?" he said.

The 67-year-old Saddam appeared most agitated when the subject came to the invasion of Kuwait — one of the broad charges against him.

"The armed forces went to Kuwait," Saddam said. "Is it possible to raise accusations against an official figure and this figure be treated apart from the official guarantees stipulated by the constitution and the law? Where is this law upon which you are conducting investigations?

"How could Saddam be tried over Kuwait that said it will reduce Iraqi women to 10-dinar prostitutes?" Saddam asked, referring to himself in the third person. "He defended Iraq's honor and revived its historical rights over those dogs."

At this point, the judge admonished him and said he would not tolerate such language in the courtroom.