Baghdad: Saddam Hussein stood and argued with Kurdish judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin within minutes of the start of the trial on Wednesday.
He refused to answer questions and rejected the legitimacy of the court set up under US occupation.
When asked to identify himself by judge Amin, Saddam stood in the railed dock and argued back: "You know me. You are an Iraqi and you know who I am," he said.
"I won't answer to this so-called court," Saddam said.
"Who are you? What are you?" he demanded.
"The occupation is illegitimate," Saddam insisted. "I retain my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq."
Saddam shorn of sympathy
Arabs showed little sympathy for Saddam but many said the court trying the Iraqi leader would not give him a fair hearing because it was set up under US occupation.
"Everyone knows that the trial is an American game, but the truth must come out," said Mohammad Abdullah Majrashi, a 56-year-old retired government employee in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
"The people do not like Saddam. He should be tried because he oppressed his people. But this an American process," said bookshop employee Mohamed Mahmoud, 27, in downtown Cairo.
Some people in the region say the trial could send a message about accountability to other leaders in the Arab world, where many presidents and ruling families have governed for decades with few, if any, democratic credentials.
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