Confronting Saddam Hussein
From the Wolf Blitzer Reports staff in Washington:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An already extraordinary Sunday turned surreal for a member of Iraq's Governing Council.
After former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was taken into U.S. custody, four members of the Governing Council were asked to help identify him.
The arrangement was for them to view the former dictator from behind a mirror or on closed-circuit TV. But they asked for and were granted permission to confront their tormentor, face-to-face.
"That was an important moment, I should say," relates Adel Abdul Mahdi, one of the four council members who entered the room to question Hussein.
He represents the Shiite Muslim religious faction in the council, a group long-targeted by Saddam Hussein and his henchmen.
He's known Saddam since the 60s and recognized him right away. But he saw something he may never have envisioned.
"Personally I saw him as a broken man," says Abdul Mahdi. "Although he tried to keep his personality as a strong one."
Abdul Mahdi says Saddam tried to question them; to push them into a political discussion. They wouldn't budge.
 |
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
|
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.
Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
|
|
"We tried to limit our discussion with him on his crimes, on his bad deeds," Abdul Mahdi says.
He and his colleagues hammered Saddam on why he had opponents killed and why he ordered the gas-attack on Kurdish civilians in 1988.
They now describe Saddam as unrepentant, defiant and arrogant.
But Mahdi says they had the last laugh, chiding him about his surrender.
"You at least had a pistol. Why didn't you fight for yourself, why didn't you fight for your cause? At least your sons fought for themselves, you didn't do it. You are a coward man, Saddam Hussein," Abdul Mahdi recounts the conversation. "He said, 'You don't know the meaning of fighting.' We said, 'No we know exactly what the meaning of fighting,' So he turns his face."
Mahdi himself is unrepentant on wanting Saddam to be tried by Iraqis. Does he think Saddam should be executed? "Maybe," Adbul Mahdi says. "Why not?"
