IRAQ - July 1 - Defiant Saddam Mocks Court In Criminal Hearing.

Appearing in public for the first time since his capture in December last year, the former Iraqi dictator Saddam mocks the special court set up to try him and his fellow Baathists, as he was charged with seven counts of crimes against the peoples of Iraq and Kuwait. Saddam refused to sign legal documents testifying that he was aware of his rights under Iraqi law. He declared: "Everyone knows that this whole process is a theatrical play by [George W.] Bush the criminal who is attempting to win his election". The dramatic hearing has stolen the headlines from the violence in Iraq. But as Iraqi's flocked to TV to hear Saddam speak, his words also threatened to re-open old wounds. Some Sunni Arabs, the minority who dominated the country under Saddam, said the former dictator's defiance fed their nostalgia for independence. But among Baghdad's Shiite muslims, brutally repressed by the old regime, there was anger that Saddam had again found a podium to "poison" Iraq. July 1 event was a low-key event, held before fewer than 20 people in a small court house set on a large US military base near Baghdad airport. The full trials of Saddam and his colleagues are not expected for several months. But they are likely to have repercussions across the Arab world, which has yet to see an autocratic leader brought to justice. Saddam insisted he still held office in Iraq. Confirming his name, he said: "Yes, I am Saddam Hussein, the current President of Iraq". Asked whether he could afford legal representation, he replied with characteristic sarcasm: "According to the Americans, I have millions of dollars in Geneva so I should be able to afford a lawyer". The hearing, only two days after the US handed sovereignty to Iraq, appeared partly designed to shore up support for the Allawi's government by diverting attention away from the recent surge in violence. But this message was confused; permission to cover the event was only given to a small group of US correspondents. The Iraqi press, which is being courted by Allawi, was left furious and resentful in central Baghdad. The pan-Arab news channel Al-Jazeera said it had been expelled from the hearing. Across the Tigris river, in the Shiite quarter of Khathimiya, Raid Khudair, a sweetmeat seller, said: "Why are they giving him the rights he refused to accord to others". Amar Al-Shahbandar, Iraq director of Institute for War and Peace Reporting, warned that the trial could prove to be premature in a divided country that has yet to come to terms with its past. A whole generation reared under Saddam is only just coming to terms with the idea that Kuwait is not Iraq's 19th province. But now that the legal process has begun, such divisions will be hard to ignore. The broadcast hearings will ensure that the dictator's words continue to gnaw at Iraq for a long time yet.