The following are excerpts from Saddam Hussein's remarks during several sessions of his trial. The excerpts were aired on Al-Jazeera TV in December 2005.

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December 5, 2005

Saddam Hussein: "Your honor..."

Judge: "Yes..."

Saddam Hussein: "When I'm talking, you should consider me as your brother - your brother in the sense of brothers in Iraq, in the nation. I care about a death sentence even less than about an Iraqi's shoe. I'm not afraid of being executed. You know me better than all the people of the world. No one needs to talk about my record from 1959 to this day. I know that you are being pressured..."

Judge: "Do you have any specific question?"

Saddam Hussein: "Yes, I do.

"I have served you for 30 years."

Judge: "This is a criminal case. If you have any relevant question or comment..."

Saddam Hussein: "Give me a chance... give me a chance... Give me a chance, don't cut me off. I'm not defending myself, I'm defending you. He gets to bring his files in, while Saddam Hussein must write on his hand what he wants to remember to say to the judges.

"Your honor, I want you to be like lances and swords confronting the enemies."

December 21, 2005

Saddam Hussein: "I am not here to defend Saddam Hussein. As I've said before, Saddam Hussein is too great to be defended by Saddam Hussein himself.

"Even if you don't pray, according to Iraq's constitution - whether by the constitution signed by Saddam Hussein, in which he believes, or the fabricated constitution, which was dictated to the Iraqis by the American advisor - Islam is the religion of the state. Twice I brought to your attention that it was prayer time, but it was ignored."

Judge: "It was not ignored, but the witness..."

Saddam Hussein: "How can you say it was not ignored?"

Judge: "The testimony cannot be interrupted..."

Saddam Hussein: "What!? The Lord Almighty must wait until the testimony is over?

"The [witness] talked about rooms without windows. In the last session - and I'm not saying this to embarrass you or anyone else - I asked for someone to come and see the rooms used for imprisonment now, under American democracy.

"Any harm done to any Iraqi gives me as much heartache as it does him - not because I'm afraid of him or of any other human. I fear only Allah. But this is how I feel: Any harm done to the gentlemen who testified is wrong. Whoever did this must be punished according to the law. But this happened in a Third World country - as America calls it - 25 years ago. But what is happening now... now... now... Is there anyone - beginning with Saddam Hussein and ending with all those present - who has not been beaten, and who doesn't still bear the marks to this day? Your honor, it is the court's duty to look into it, whether now or later.

"He asked whether I was beaten."

Judge: "If you have any such claims, write them down and submit them..."

Saddam Hussein: "No, please. I am not a student in your school. Don't make me speak in a way that none of us want. He interrupted me and went on talking. You didn't silence him. He asked a question, and my answer is: 'Yes, I was beaten all over my body, and I bear the marks to this day. Yes, we were beaten. We were beaten by the Americans. We were tortured, each and every one of us. When that man gets up, he has to lean on the wall so he doesn't fall. He received rifle blows to the neck, until they crippled him. That one was crippled. Barzan was crippled. Abu Nadia - they even took the bones out of his legs.'"

December 22, 2005

Saddam Hussein: "I'm no lawyer. You know me. I like to call a spade a spade in politics and in everything else. That's why the Zionists and the Americans... The top officials hate Saddam Hussein. The White House is lying once again. He's a liar. He's the world's number one liar. He said that there were chemical weapons in Iraq, and that Iraq is connected to terrorism. Later he declared: We didn't find any of this in Iraq. What I want to say is that he also declared that what Saddam Hussein said is not true. I showed my injuries to three American medical committees in succession.

"This is defamation of your president of 35 years. It means that the Iraqis accepted a man who is a liar, and the Iraqis would never accept a liar, and this is why they reject those liars now.

"Saddam Hussein - in the American democracy that has been put to shame here, in great Iraq - was not allowed to wear his watch. This is not my watch. The watch I had they stole. One of my daughters, whom they exiled, gave her father a watch as a present. That is the watch they prevented Saddam Hussein from wearing. I'm only saying this so you can make the comparison. They tore the robes I was wearing all the way down. This way, they believe, they are hurting Saddam Hussein, diminishing his personality. But Saddam Hussein's personality is not measured by his clothes. This is a mark of shame on them, but it only makes Saddam Hussein greater, not smaller. I only say this so that the defendant..."

Judge: "He's the prosecutor, not the defendant..."

Saddam Hussein: "Excuse me? The prosecutor. The prosecutor and the witness should listen and make the comparison - although I didn't [try to] kill Bush.

"Your honor..."

Barzan Tikriti: "Your honor, those lowlifes are laughing and cursing."

Saddam Hussein: "In any case... Barzan, let those monkeys laugh. A lion doesn't care if a monkey in a tree is laughing at him. Take it easy. Look at me, I don't care about this nonsense.

"One of the prosecutors described our great [Ba'th] party as blood-spilling. To describe my party and myself, since I'm its leader... I am proud to be the leader of the people.

"I don't care if even Peres comes here - I'm not referring to you or anyone else who opposes them... I don't mind if he sits here and tries me. Like the Egyptians say, tuzz on him ['to hell with him'], and on his ridiculous entity. I don't care if Bush comes and sits here and tries me. Tuzz on him and on his chair... and on his father before him. Double tuzz on them!"