Key excerpts from Saddam in court

Iraq's ex-leader Saddam Hussein has made a defiant first appearance before an Iraqi judge. The following are edited key moments from that exchange.

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CONFIRMING HIS IDENTITY AND STATUS

Judge: Are you Saddam Hussein?

Saddam Hussein: Yes, Saddam Hussein, the president of the Republic of Iraq.

Judge: Saddam Hussein al-Majid?

Saddam Hussein: Saddam Hussein, the president of the Republic of Iraq.

Judge: (to court clerk) Put down 'former' in brackets.

Saddam Hussein: I am the president of the republic so you should not strip me of my title to put me on trial.

Judge: Where do you live?

Saddam Hussein: I live in every Iraqi's house.

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CHALLENGING THE AUTHORITY OF THE COURT

Saddam Hussein: How can you judge me in advance when I have not yet been tried? These are charges and not crimes. I demand lawyers. Do you have a law certificate and since when have you been recognised as a judge, after the occupation or before that?

Judge: Since the days of the previous regime and until now. The coalition authority asked me to hold this trial.

Saddam Hussein (laughing): Then you are trying me by order of the invasion forces. By what law are you trying me?

Judge: I am trying you in accordance with the Iraqi law.

Saddam Hussein: Then you are trying me by the law that I enacted. You are trying me by a law that I approved and ratified.

Saddam Hussein: I do not want to make you feel uneasy, but you know this is all theatre by Bush to help him with his election campaign. The real criminal is Bush.

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ON THE INVASION OF KUWAIT

Saddam Hussein: How can you, an Iraqi national, say the invasion of Kuwait? Every Iraqi knows Kuwait is part of Iraq. It was not an invasion. I returned to Kuwait because the Kuwaitis were turning Iraqi women into 10-dinar prostitutes. The Iraqi soldiers went to defend the honour of Iraq. The Kuwaitis are dogs.

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ON THE GASSING OF HALABJA

Saddam Hussein: Yes, I heard about that in the media as well.

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ON HIS RIGHT TO A LAWYER

Saddam Hussein: Everyone says, the Americans say, I have millions of dollars stashed away in Geneva. So I should be able to afford one.