Saddam defiant on eve of verdict; curfew imposed

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A defiant Saddam Hussein shrugged off a possible death sentence, saying he would die without fear and the U.S. occupiers of his country would leave humiliated like they did in Vietnam, his lawyers said Saturday.

They said a jovial and highly spirited Saddam, 69, chatted with them for more than three hours about the violence in Iraq and mounting U.S. losses just hours before an expected death sentence today in his trial for crimes against humanity.

The prospect of the sentence appeared to be the least of his concerns, they said, his focus instead being on the insurgency and the rising U.S. death toll. "He was totally unconcerned about the verdict. In fact there was derision about the court and this farce," Khalil al-Dulaimi, the defense team's chief lawyer said.

"I will die with honor and with no fear, with pride for my country and my Arab nation, but the U.S. occupiers will leave in humiliation and defeat," Saddam was quoted by the lawyers as saying.

The lawyers said Saddam saw a "doomed America sinking more and more in the Iraqi quagmire, just like what happened in Vietnam."

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials canceled all military leaves, ordered the Baghdad airport closed and imposed an indefinite curfew from 6 a.m. today in the capital and the religiously mixed provinces of Diyala and Salahuddin, home to Saddam's birthplace and the Shiite town at the center of his trial.

Saddam and seven co-defendants are accused of murdering scores of Shiite villagers and other crimes in retribution for a 1982 assassination attempt against the onetime president in Dujail.

"We hope this verdict will be what this man deserves for the crimes that he committed against the Iraqi people," said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who has called for the death penalty in this case.

He urged Iraqis, known for celebratory gunfire, to mark the outcome with "calmness and discipline ... in a way that is suitable to the security challenges."