Massacre Highlights Saddam's Reign of Terror

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 1, 2006— -- Other charges on the docket in the case against former Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein are better-known than the Dujail Massacre.

In both preparation and justification for the Iraq War, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair often referred to the wholesale slaughter of thousands of Kurds and Shiites after the first Gulf War and the March 1988 chemical attack on Halabja, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 5,000 Kurds.

But what's being discussed in court today in Baghdad -- the 1982 Dujail Massacre -- is both a fascinating story and case study of how Saddam ruled Iraq: cruelly, coldly and with a vengeance.

It began on July 8, 1982, in the early months of the Iran-Iraq war, which at that point was proceeding poorly for Saddam.

With an official cameraman in tow, Saddam and his entourage visited Dujail, a majority Shiia town about 35 miles north of Baghdad. There he spoke to a cheering crowd, thanking locals for sending their sons to war. According to footage, Saddam met with a family, patted the head of a small girl, and turned down the offer of a glass of water. All seemed to be going well for this PR event.

On his way out of town, however, Saddam was ambushed. From the cover of palm trees, members of a militant Shiia group, Dawa, fired upon Saddam's entourage.

Saddam turned the convoy around. His security team began tracking down suspects. The cameraman caught some of those moments, in tapes obtained by the Journeyman documentary company and aired on the United Kingdom's Channel 4.

"I'm fasting and was on my way home," pleaded one young man.

Cried another: "Please sir, I'm in the Popular Army."

"Keep them separate and interrogate them," Saddam said.

The dictator again spoke to a crowd. "These small groups imagine they break the relationship between Saddam and the people," he said. "Neither these few shots nor the artillery bombardments will deflect us from the course we are taking."