Iraqi bloggers dig into Saddam's trial

Since the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein, Iraqis have discovered blogging as a vehicle to express their hopes, fears and pent-up rage. Unsurprisingly, a number of them have turned their attention to Saddam's trial.

First, we check in with Salam Pax, the Web name of the first Iraqi blogger to become widely read. He now holds forth at Shut Up You Fat Whiner:

"Saddam stands up and interrupts the judge shouting "Long live Iraq." It really is too much for my blood pressure. And a copy of the Koran in his hands!!! Barzan [one of the other defendants] stands up and points at the judge and starts arguing. What chaos!

And what the hell is that American [former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark] doing in the courtroom?? If you are that worried about human rights why don't go look at what your own government is doing in Guatnanamo? At least that is something people will thank you for."

Sooni, who writes a blog of the same name and describes himself as a 35-year-old IT manager, also is curious about Clark's presence:

I know that every defendant should have an attorney but it's really confusing why a respectable man like Ramsey would defend a criminal like Saddam?

The presiding judge at the trial, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, has been widely criticized for failing to maintain order in the proceedings. However, Mohammed at Iraq the Model, the joint blog of three brothers who are all medical professionals, sees it differently:

The judge was firm--yet gentle--in keeping the proceedings on track every time there was some distraction and he failed all attempts made by this or that party to politicize the trial.

The 26-year-old Iraqi woman computer programmer who writes under the name Riverbend at her blog, Baghdad Burning, is a critic of the U.S. occupation who sees some parallels between what happened under Saddam and what is happening today in Iraq:

One thing that struck me about what the witnesses were saying--after the assassination attempt in Dujail, so much of what later unfolded is exactly what is happening now in parts of Iraq. They talked about how a complete orchard was demolished because the Mukhabarat [secret police] thought people were hiding there and because they thought someone had tried to shoot Saddam from that area. That was like last year when the Americans razed orchards in Diyala because they believed insurgents were hiding there. Then they talked about the mass detentions--men, women and children--and its almost as if they are describing present-day Ramadi or Falloojah. The descriptions of cramped detention spaces, and torture are almost exactly the testimonies of prisoners in Abu Ghraib, etc.

It makes one wonder when Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and the rest will have their day, as the accused, in court.

The first couple of years of Riverbend's blog posts have just been published as a book, "Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq."

Akba, an Iraqi expat who writes Iraq Risingfrom London, has no qualms about what's happening at the trial.

Dictator, Psychopath, Murderer, Madman, Thug, Assassin, Monster, Warmonger, Egomaniac, Thief, Racist, Xenophobe, Liar, Ignoramus, Torturer, the destroyer of a nation.

I don't care what happens to this man. In fact I wish he were dead already. I think the majority of Iraqis would say the same.

For a directory of Iraqi blogs, check in at Iraq Blog Count. Be advised that many of the bloggers listed post only occasionally.

And if all this makes you hungry for more about Iraq, check out Is Something Burning?, an Iraqi recipe site where you can find out how to make a nice eggplant dish.