The Special Tribunal set up to try him said it had charged Saddam and three others with killings in Dujail, a town where the ex-president survived a 1982 assassination attempt. If convicted in that relatively minor case, Saddam could be hanged without ever standing trial on wider and more contentious charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Many Iraqis say they would prefer swift punishment to a long trial.
âWhen I hear talk of Saddam Hussein, itâs as if Iâm confronting the angel of death,â Bashir Ghazi, sitting outside a Baghdad coffee shop, said on Sunday.