There’s a scene in C.S. Lewis’s novel Perelandra where the protagonist, and a man possessed by Satan, are fighting over the soul of a person. But when they’re not debating, they have to rest… except the demoniac doesn’t rest. Instead he pesters the hero by shouting his name, torturing frogs, or masturbating. Basically he’s acting like an obnoxious brat so he can wear down his opponent. This isn’t the genteel, civilized behavior we see in the devil in much of western literature, but anyone who’s had any experience being tempted is sorta aware, or should be, that the devil is no gentleman.
I don’t know if Saddam Hussein has ever read C.S. Lewis; the rumors are he was more of an Adolf Hitler fan. But it’s interesting to see his behavior at his trial and compare it with the book. Yes, he’s making himself out to be an ass. But he has nothing to lose; if he’s guilty (and he likely is) then he’s going to be executed. So the only tactic he has left is to make the court look bad—by acting like a demoniac and daring the court to stop him. Maybe they’ll at least conclude he’s insane and commute his sentence.
American courts wouldn’t put up with this crap for a minute; we’d have the defendant cuffed to the chair, muzzled, and taken to “the hole” whenever court was in recess until he cut it out. But this is a new court under a new government, and with the whole world watching, they’re likely afraid that any disciplinary behavior on their part might make them look too strict. It’s like a foster parent disciplining a child who was removed from a home where he was beaten; sometimes the foster parent doesn’t want to spank the child—even when it’s necessary—because things went too far before.
But I think in these cases people need to make a distinction. Cuffing and gagging a prisoner is cruel and unusual punishment if not merited. In this case it most certainly is merited; Saddam won’t behave. If he wants to look insane, strapping him up like Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and wheeling him into court on a dolly ought to convey the right image.