Saddam: US denials of torture are 'lies'
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-22 21:08

Saddam Hussein insisted again Thursday that he had been beaten by his American captors, denouncing Washington's denials as "lies" and mocking President Bush's claim that Baghdad had chemical weapons.

When the court gave the former leader an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, Saddam instead used the time to expand on earlier assertions that he had been abused in custody. He claimed that the wounds he suffered from the alleged beatings had been documented by at least two American teams.

On Wednesday Saddam told the court he'd been beaten "everywhere" on his body and insisted the marks were still there. He did not display any marks.

U.S. officials strongly denied the allegations.

On Thursday, Saddam said American denials couldn't be believed, noting that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq despite Bush's pre-war claims that Saddam was harboring such weapons.

"Zionists and Americans, I mean officials, hate Saddam Hussein. The man in the White House is a liar. He said there are chemical weapons in Iraq," Saddam said. "He later said that, 'We did not find anything in Iraq.'"

The former Iraqi leader and seven co-defendants are on trial for the deaths of more than 140 Shiites after a 1982 attempt on Saddam's life in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.