Court hears tale of sheep's blood in attack on Saddam

BAGHDAD, May 24: A woman marked Saddam Hussein's car with the blood of a slaughtered sheep to guide gunmen who opened fire on his convoy in an assassination attempt in 1982, a court heard today.

Saddam's former personal secretary, Abed Hamid, took the stand for the toppled leader in an attempt to justify a crackdown that led to the execution of 148 Shi'ite men and teenagers after the attack in the town of Dujail.

Once one of Saddam's most feared aides, Hamid told the court how the plot to kill Saddam unfolded as residents in the town north of Baghdad slaughtered sheep in a traditional sign of welcoming.

Hamid's suspicions were aroused when the woman touched the former president's car with blood from the sheep on her hand, fearing she was marking it for an ambush.

''I ordered the cars to be switched without the knowledge of the president,'' he said, adding that five cars in Saddam's convoy took fire, including the one with the blood stain.

The court was later adjourned to May 29.

Hamid's account of the Dujail attack was followed by more outbursts from Saddam, who still calls himself the president of Iraq and who faces possible death by hanging.

Saddam stared down chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman, a member of the Kurdish ethnic community oppressed by the ousted leader, and said: ''You elected me.'' Standing in a dark suit, Saddam contrasted with the image of him in a military uniform as he personally interrogated terrified Dujail residents after the attempt on his life and told his forces to take them away for more questioning.

Hamid, described by Iraqis as one of Saddam's most powerful enforcers, explained how he, Saddam and other officials escaped death in Dujail.

UNDER FIRE FROM ORCHARDS

While their convoy headed back to helicopters they came under heavy fire from gunmen hiding in an orchard who killed three soldiers. Saddam's men discovered a cache of heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades in the area, Hamid said.

Like Saddam's co-accused, Hamid linked former war foe Iran to the plot carried out by the Shi'ite Islamist Dawa party of Nuri al-Maliki, the current Iraqi prime minister. Former Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz also took the stand for Saddam in his first public appearance in three years and said the court should try today's Iraqi leaders for attacks against the state in the 1980s.

Aziz, the highest profile witness for Saddam, was once the international public face of the toppled leader's government and one of his closest aides.

He tried to turn the tables in the trial by accusing Dawa of trying to kill him and Saddam two decades ago.

''I'm a victim of criminal acts committed by a party presently in power now. Try them,'' said Aziz, referring to a hand grenade attack on him at a Baghdad university in 1980.

''They killed dozens of students.'' Saddam and his co-defendants are accused of bloody reprisals, including the killings of 148 Shi'ites, in Dujail after the failed attempt to kill him.

Aziz, a long-time ally of Saddam, said the Dujail attack was part of a series of operations targeting officials and civilians and Iraqi officials had every right to crack down on the Dawa.

''Weren't the killings at Mustansiriya University a mass killing?,'' Aziz asked the court. ''And now you are judging officials, accusing them of mass killings.'' Aziz, whose family says he is seriously ill, was number 43 on the US most-wanted list of Iraqi officials when he gave himself up in April 2003.

He featured prominently in all three of Iraq's wars, garnering American support in the 1980-88 war with Iran before turning into a foe in the later Gulf conflicts.

With his eloquent English, Aziz came to prominence in the world media after Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, often confidently smoking a cigar in news conferences as he explained Iraq's positions through years of confrontations.

Wearing pyjamas and noticeably thinner, he said there was no crime in punishing groups who carry out bombings and assassinations.

Other defence witnesses also spoke of the Dujail attack, including Saddam's son-in-law Jamal Mustafa, who reminded the chamber of the former leader's trademark defiance.

''His excellency is well known for his courage. He stepped out of the car and walked to the middle of a crowd and addressed the people from the rooftop of a medical centre,'' he said, describing Saddam's actions just after escaping death.

REUTERS