LONDON – It was the moment Saddam Hussein had been waiting for since he was dragged unceremoniously from his hiding hole in Tikrit by American troops more than two years ago.

Throughout his captivity in an American-controlled compound on the outskirts of Baghdad international airport, the deposed dictator has insisted in correspondence with lawyers and close family that, given the opportunity to defend himself, he would succeed in having all charges against him dismissed.

So far as Saddam is concerned, he remains the undisputed leader of Iraq, temporarily inconvenienced from carrying out his presidential duties by an illegal American-led invasion and occupation of his country.

Once this minor setback has been overcome, Saddam has every confidence that he will not only be acquitted but might even return to power as a national hero who never wavered in his opposition to the foreign invaders.

With this in mind, Saddam lost no time in challenging the authority of the court and asserting his own presidential credentials when he was called to give evidence at his trial yesterday.

For a man who until a few weeks ago was on hunger strike, the deposed tyrant looked in good health as he took the witness stand, particularly as he and his co-defendants have claimed that they have been tortured in captivity.

Saddam began by denouncing the legitimacy of the court, which, in his view, was nothing more than “a comedy against Saddam Hussein and his comrades.” Given the crushing military defeat Saddam suffered after Operation Iraqi Freedom – next week is the third anniversary of the start of hostilities – and the decades of suffering he inflicted on the Iraqi people, it is difficult not to marvel at the chutzpah of the old tyrant who is, after all, on trial for his life.

While most observers believe it is now impossible for him to escape a date with the hangman’s noose at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib jail, Saddam will be encouraged both by the paucity of the evidence so far presented by the prosecution, and by the bloody chaos that continues to afflict his country.

Since the trial of Saddam and his codefendants began last October, most of the evidence presented against him has been circumstantial and hearsay.

As Saddam made clear yesterday, he is well aware of the chaos afflicting his country. The longer the current political vacuum persists in the Iraqi government, the more Saddam will be encour-