Saddam calls for reconciliation in the court

WATCH VIDEO

But residents of the northern city of Halabja are calling for the trial of the former strongman to continue, despite Sunday's death sentence. In a brutal chemical weapon attack against the Kurds 18 years ago, up to 5-thousand locals lost their lives.

1988 gas attack survivor said, “I think there is not any relationship between the judgment of Saddam Hussein, which is the execution of him, and the election of Americans, because we want to execute him. He bombed us by the mass destruction, which the bombardment of the chemical weapons.”

The repercussions of Saddam's trial have even reached Latin America. On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he opposes the death penalty, regardless of who it is. Then he called for US president George W. Bush to be tried in an international court for genocide, because of the war in Iraq.

Back in Iraq, the rampant violence has shown no signs of abating. On Tuesday, a roadside bomb, targeting a US military patrol, killed 3 civilians and wounded 8 others in Falluja. Iraqi capital Baghdad saw 10 people shot to death over the last 24 hours.

And in Ramadi on Monday, violent clashes took place between unidentified gunmen and US soldiers, after mortar shells hit the US base in the area.

 

Editor:Sun Luying