The judge said he would tell the police not to let that happen again. Saddam snapped: "You are the chief judge. I don't want you to tell them. I want you to order them. They are in our country. You have the sovereignty. You are Iraqi and they are foreigners and occupiers. They are invaders. You should order them."

Hussein and his co-defendants are "charged in the killings of more than 140 Shiite Muslims after an assassination attempt against the former president in the Shiite town of Dujail in 1982." The court heard a bit of evidence before adjourning.

A videotape obtained from Iraqi intelligence was shown in court, depicting Saddam in Dujail right after the incident in a military uniform, questioning three men held by guards.

The court also played the videotaped testimony of former intelligence officer Wadah Ismael al-Sheik, who investigated the assassination attempt and died of cancer Oct. 27. ... According to the transcript, al-Sheik, who appeared frail and sat in a wheelchair in a U.S.-controlled hospital last month, said about 400 people were detained after the assassination attempt, although he estimated only between seven and 12 gunmen actively participated in the ambush of Saddam's convoy.

"I don't know why so many people were arrested," al-Sheik said, adding that Ibrahim, head of intelligence at the time, "was the one directly giving the orders."

A day after the assassination attempt, whole families were rounded up and taken to Abu Ghraib prison, he said.

Whether the trial actually resumes on December 5 may depend on whether the defense team is able to replace the assassinated lawyers. In the meantime, Shiite party leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim "accused the court of 'weakness' for not having sentenced Saddam to death already." His "skip the trial and put him to death" mentality sounds suspiciously like the behavior that led to universal condemndation of the Hussein regime.