Dec. 5: There are fears that Saddam's outbursts at his trial may be a way for him to send signals to his supporters. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Dec. 5: Courtroom theatrics continued during Saddam Hussein’s trial on Monday. NBC’s Tom Aspell reports, along with MSNBC-TV’s Monica Crowley and Ron Reagan.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein said Monday he was not afraid of execution and angrily dismissed charges against him at his trial in which a tearful witness recalled the torture of his relatives and seeing a machine that “looked like a grinder” with hair and blood on it.
Saddam’s trial on charges that he and seven co-defendants killed more than 140 Shiites from the village of Dujail in the summer of 1982 after a failed assassination attempt was punctuated by outbursts by the former president, as well as a brief walkout by his defense lawyers.
At one point, Saddam appeared to threaten the judge, saying: “When the revolution of the heroic Iraq arrives, you will be held accountable.”
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Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin replied: “This is an insult to the court. We are searching for the truth.”
Earlier, however, Saddam told the court he understood the pressures upon the judges and defended his actions. He and his seven co-defendants could be executed if convicted on the charges stemming from the deaths of more than 140 Shiites in 1982.
Before the third session of the trial adjourned until Tuesday, Saddam repeatedly interrupted testimony and appeared to try to rally Iraqis against the U.S. occupation.
“This game must not continue, if you want Saddam Hussein’s neck, you can have it!” Saddam said. “I have exercised my constitutional prerogatives after I had been the target of an armed attack.
“I am not afraid of execution,” said Saddam, who then addressed the judge, saying, “I realize there is pressure on you and I regret that I have to confront one of my sons. But I’m not doing it for myself. I’m doing it for Iraq. I’m not defending myself. But I am defending you.”
When the first witness Ahmed Hassan Mohammed spoke, Saddam told him: “Do not interrupt me, son.”
“If it’s ever established that Saddam Hussein laid a hand on any Iraqi, then everything that witness said is correct,” he said.
He also told the court that he “would like (the witness) to be examined by an independent medical institution.”
Chaos in the courtroom
Amin had a difficult time keeping order during several clashes between the witnesses and the accused, with Saddam and his co-defendant and half brother, Barazan Ibrahim, gesturing and shouting together. In one instance, Saddam pointed to the sky with his right hand while he held Islam’s holy book, the Quran, in his left.
“Everyone must remain calm and be civil,” he said repeatedly.
At one point, Saddam and Ibrahim became so angry while Saddam sparred verbally with the judge and a second witness, Jawad Abdul-Azziz Jawad, that guards tried to calm them. Ibrahim smacked them on the hands with a notebook.
Saddam himself became so angry that he threw some papers he was holding, and they eventually landed on the floor.
Earlier, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who is helping represent Saddam, sought to address the court, touching off an argument that led to the walkout by the defense team.
Amin at first said only Saddam’s chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, could speak. Amin said the defense should submit its motion in writing and warned that if the defense walked out then the court would appoint replacement lawyers.
After the defense lawyers left, Saddam, shaking his right hand, told the judge: “You are imposing lawyers on us. They are imposed lawyers. The court is imposed by itself. We reject that.”
Saddam and Ibrahim then chanted “Long live Iraq, long live the Arab state.”
Ibrahim stood up and shouted: “Why don’t you just execute us and get rid of all of this!”
When the judge explained that he was ruling in accordance with the law, Saddam replied: “This is a law made by America and does not reflect Iraqi sovereignty.”
Descriptions of torture
After the lawyers spoke, Mohammed began his emotional but often rambling testimony. He said that after an assassination attempt on Saddam, security agencies took people of all ages, from 14 to more than 70. They were tortured for 70 days at intelligence headquarters in Baghdad before being moved to Abu Ghraib prison where the abuse continued, he said.
He said his brother, who was at 17 at the time, was tortured while his 77-year-old father watched.
Mohammed, who was 15 at the time, said he himself was tortured. “They blindfolded me, but I was so young, it kept falling.”
In one of the facilities, he saw “a machine that looked like a grinder and had some blood and hair” on it.
“There were mass arrests. Women and men. Even if a child was 1-day-old, they used to tell his parents, ‘Bring him with you,”’ Mohammed said. He said he was taken to a security center where “I saw bodies of people from Dujail.”
“They were martyrs I knew,” Mohammed said, giving the names of nine victims.
The second witness, Jawad, who was only 10 when the assassination attempt occurred, testified how Iraqi troops used helicopters to attack the city and bulldozers to destroy the fields.
Jawad said Saddam’s regime killed three of his brothers, one before the assassination attempt and two after.
When al-Dulaimi asked how someone who was 10 could remember such details, Jawad said “a 3-year-old child remembers a lot. An elementary school student does not forget if a teacher slapped him in the face. I lived a catastrophe.”
After the walkout and a 90-minute recess to resolve the issue, the court reconvened and Amin allowed Clark and ex-Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nueimi to speak on the questions of the legitimacy of the tribunal and safety of the lawyers.
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As the trial of Saddam Hussein drew another day of testimony, the court heard the testimony of five witnesses of the killing of 140 men in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad. 

Witnesses who feared showing their face or voice were allowed to testify in a covered box with their voice altered. Their names were also protected and each witness was named with a letter.  The defense was, however, allowed to know the name of the witnesses as long as those names were not disclosed outside the proceedings.

Tuesday's court session lasted around nine hours.

'''Testimony Highlights'''

Witness A

*Female
*Iraqi intelligence officers in the Abu Ghraib prison beat her with cables and gave her electric shocks
*Recalled torture of family members and others in prison
*Officers destroyed homes and orchards

Witness C

*Male
*Taken to Baath Party headquarters at age 12, where he was tortured and then sent to Abu Ghraib prison
*Spent four years in desert prison camp
*Saw Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti at Baath Party headquarters in Dujail
:*Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti is Hussein's half brother