He spends much of his time reading legal books given to him by the Red Cross, ineluding one on the Geneva Conventions. He is said to be as defiant as ever—and ready for his close-up. In fact, Saddam Hussein "still considers himself the president," says Khamis Obaidi, a recent member of the former Iraqi dictator's legal team. U.S. officials who once were exhilarated by Saddam's capture now fear that when he goes on trial this week for crimes against humanity, he will try to emulate the grandstanding of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serb tyrant. "Saddam monitored Milosevic's performance at The Hague and was very impressed with it," says former U.S. occupation spokesman Dan Senor, who worries that the trial will "inflame" Sunni insurgents in the short run. Like Milosevic, Saddam plans to argue that his captors have no right to try him at all. "He thinks that anything being done under occupation is illegitimate," says Obaidi.
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