Saddam responsibility claim quotes

Saddam says he was president so he alone should be tried

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has told his trial in Baghdad that he alone should be made to answer for the actions of his regime.

The following are key excerpts from his address to the chief judge.

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Saddam Hussein: Your honour, you are looking for things and you have clarity in your hands, but you leave it and go looking for the unknown. What do I mean? For instance, the razing of Dujail's groves. I razed them. So why do you go after Taha Yassin Ramadan and Barzan [Ibrahim, two of his seven co-defendants]?

You have no need to go after other people. I razed the land. I don't mean I rode a bulldozer and razed it, but I razed it. It was a resolution issued by the Revolutionary Command Council defining the pieces of land to be flattened for those who were convicted or those who would be convicted. And that was done. I signed the decree. If it was proved that they were convicted of the criminal assault on me, their groves would be flattened.

In any case, according to Iraqi state law, the government had the right to take over any land for the national interest, with a symbolic compensation.

It is the state's right to appropriate and to compensate, and the necessary was carried out. Where is the crime? Where is the crime?

Why am I telling you I did it? Because I signed the decree. If I didn't want to sign it, I wouldn't have signed, because the attack happened against me, no one could force me to sign the decree. So why are you bringing this man, this farmer from Dujail? [referring to one of the co-defendants]

And you've brought the head of the Revolutionary Court because he tried them. If I had wanted, I wouldn't have referred them to the Revolutionary Court. I did refer them to the Revolutionary Court. And they were tried according to the law, just as you are trying [us]. So Awad [Bandar, former head of the court and a co-defendant] tried them according to the law, he had the right to try or to acquit according to the law and according to his own judgment.

If the chief figure makes things easy for you by saying he was the one responsible, then why are you going after these people, detaining them and searching for one who was responsible?

You mean, Saddam Hussein would say when he was leader, "I am responsible," then when things get tough he would say, "No, Abdullah was responsible"? [referring to Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, another co-defendant] No, Saddam Hussein would not do that, and you know that. He's not the type to do that. In the tough times Saddam Hussein carries people on his shoulders.

If putting a defendant on trial on charges of shooting at a head of state, whatever his name, is considered a crime, then you have the head of state in your hands. Why are you trying other people? They were not presidents, there was only one.

The head of state is here, so try him, and let the others go their way. If nothing in the law gives the right for the Revolutionary Command Council to decide to appropriate land and give its owners compensation, the head of the Revolutionary Command Council is here in your hands [for trial].