Saddam Testifying or Pontificating

This isn't about Saddam testifying as to his crimes relating to Dujail where 148 Shi'ites were murdered after an assassination attempt on Saddam. It's about Saddam having face time before the judge to rail about the US, and whatever else comes to mind.

Mr. Hussein, the last of the defendants to testify, did not address the charges against of him, concerning the torture and killing of Shiite villagers in the 1980's.

He walked into the court, neatly dressed in a black suit and dark gray vest, put on a pair of glasses and began his testimony by reading from a written statement that essentially was an address to the country's insurgents.

"You were big in defending the country and you will always be big in my eyes," Mr. Hussein said. "You're defending your country against the occupation . I want you to stick to your virtues, your faith and your patience."

After more than half an hour, the chief judge ordered that the live broadcast of the trial be cut off. "This is something between you and the Americans," he said. "Don't involve the court in the struggle between you and the Americans."

Mr. Hussein's testimony concluded the second portion of the trial, in which he and seven other former government officials are charged with wrongly imprisoning and killing 148 men and boys from the Shiite village of Dujail after assassins there tried to gun down Mr. Hussein in 1982.

Saddam wants the terrorists to continue killing, which goes to show how little he cares for the rights of the Iraqis to live in peace. The terrorists aren't able to go after coalition forces with any great success, they're finding going after Iraqi forces to be getting more difficult by the day, so they're left with killing civilians in greater and greater numbers, which goes to explain the rising body count among civilian populations in the past week (which also coincides with the ongoing trial and Saddam's testimony).

UPDATE:
Ed Morissey notes that the judge cut off Saddam's pontificating rather quickly, and shows that this current judge has firm control over the proceedings. Saddam was able to get away with all kinds of shenannigans with the earlier judge, but that simply isn't possible now. And that means that this case will proceed far more efficiently and with a minimum of disruptions.