Saddam 'wrote defiant poetry'

2005-11-05 20:03

Cairo - Saddam Hussein wrote defiant poetry during the opening session of his trial for crimes against humanity, according to a report on Saturday by the Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat based on an item in an Iraqi weekly.

Al-Shahid al-Mustakil (The Independent Witness) published four lines of poetry in its current edition that it claimed were written by the deposed Iraqi president at the opening of his trial in Baghdad on October 19.

The verse, which the report claimed was written by pencil in a yellow notebook, seemed to urge Saddam's supporters to persevere, promising that the battle with their enemies was not over.

The Iraqi weekly claimed its correspondent attending the opening session of the trial had obtained the verse, but did not say how. Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa was unable to verify the authenticity of the poetry.

According to the report, the lines of verse read as follows: "Remain proud, dear one, your dowry (or reward) will be gunpowder If you stumble, you will stand again Our determination is our hidden firepower Battle trenches will be followed by more trenches."

Several novels published in Iraq around the turn of the millennium were widely attributed to Saddam although they appeared under another name and struck out at the enemies of the former leader.

The last of those went on sale in March 2003 as the US-led war on Iraq began. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA