Defiant Hussein Hears Charges in Court

Legal analysts say the most likely path to a conviction of Hussein for committing genocide or crimes against humanity is to establish his command responsibility for the institutions of Iraqi government, including the military, and the security services that killed thousands of ordinary Iraqis from 1968 to 2003.

In Washington, a former senior administrator of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority said Thursday that during Hussein's seven months in captivity, he provided "very little, almost nothing" during interrogations. He also did not provide any information on his government's relationship with al Qaeda or other extremist groups in the Middle East, U.S. officials said.

Hussein was so uncooperative that senior U.S. officials in Iraq concluded that neither he nor his aides were going to be helpful, according to the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing White House ground rules.

If convicted, Hussein and his deputies could face the death penalty.

References to the death penalty provision in Iraqi law, mentioned several times during Thursday's proceedings, appeared to unnerve several of the defendants.

Chalabi said he planned to speak with Hussein and the 11 other men, who now are in Iraqi legal custody, over the next few days to arrange legal representation. He said additional hearings before an investigative judge could be held within a few weeks, but he has said that it could take months before any of them are formally indicted. Trials are not expected to begin until late this year or early next year.

The court appearances for each of the 11 other men were far shorter than Hussein's. They all followed a similar script, with the judge reading out the crimes they are accused of committing and the defendants making various proclamations of innocence. Most of them also asked for non-Iraqi Arab lawyers to represent them.

After the judge told Majeed that he was being investigated in connection with the Halabja massacre, the invasion of Kuwait and the suppression of the 1991 Shiite uprising, he seemed almost relieved. "I'm happy with the accusations put forward because I'm innocent of them," he said. Later, as he walked out of the courtroom, he told national security adviser Mowaffak Rubaie that he was pleased.

Rubaie quoted Majeed as saying: "I thought the charges would be much worse."

Aziz, who was accused of "deliberate killings" in 1979 and 1991, sought to draw a distinction between personal acts and command responsibility. "If I am a member of a government that made a mistake in killing someone, there can't be a direct personal accusation against me. If there is a crime, the moral responsibility rests with the leadership, but a member of the leadership cannot be held personally responsible. I never killed anybody by any direct act."

After Hussein's appearance was finished, he was escorted out of the courtroom by two guards. As they grabbed him by the arms, he admonished them.

"Take it easy," he said. "I'm an old man."

Staff writer Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.