Ousted Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, reacts while listening to the prosecution during the "Anfal" genocide trial in Baghdad yesterday. Prosecutors who accuse Saddam of genocide by ordering chemical attacks on Kurds produced documentary evidence at his trial yesterday in a new phase crucial to pinning down his personal responsibility. - Reuters

BAGHDAD, (Reuters):

Saddam Hussein said yesterday he would take responsibility "with honour" for any attacks on Iran using conventional or chemical weapons during the 1980-1988 war, but he took issue with charges he ordered attacks on Iraqis.

The former president and six others are on trial for the Anfal - Spoils of War - military campaign against ethnic Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s, in which prosecutors say up to 180,000 people were killed in gas attacks and mass executions.

"In relation to Iran, if any military or civil official claims that Saddam gave orders to use either conventional or special ammunition, which as explained is chemical, I will take responsibility with honour," Saddam told the court.

But he added: "I will discuss any act committed against our people and any Iraqi citizen, whether Arab or Kurdish. I don't accept any insult to my principles or to me personally."

Lawyers for Saddam, who faces the charge of genocide, have argued that Anfal was a legitimate military operation against Kurdish militias who sided with Iran in the war.

Prosecutors produced documentary evidence yesterday in a new phase of the trial crucial to pinning down Saddam's personal responsibility. They showed documents from Iraq's military intelligence, the president's office and military commanders detailing the chain of command and orders given for the use of chemical weapons, dubbed "special ammunition".

START OF KEY PHASE OF TRIAL

The Anfal trial opened on August 21 and has heard more than 70 witnesses who described chemical air attacks, villages being burned and Kurds being rounded up and tortured.

Saddam has already been sentenced to death in a separate trial for crimes against humanity in the killing of Shi'ites, but legal analysts have said the prosecution failed to provide hard evidence to prove his criminal responsibility.