It's traditional for a judge to wait until the end of the trial, maintaining at least a pretense of impartiality, before pronouncing judgments on the credility of witnesses. Saddam's new, "get tough" presiding judge isn't a stickler for formality.

When lawyers complained at Monday's session about the arrests and beating, chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman retorted, "They committed perjury. Should I reward them?"

No need for a trial -- go straight to the beating. (Don't tell the president about this guy. He'll end up on the Fourth Circuit.)

Saddam's lead lawyer said the judge was surprised to hear an embarrassing truth come out in his courtroom.

Three of the witnesses testified last week that some of the 148 Shiites that Saddam and his seven co-defendants are accused of killing were still alive, defense lawyer Najib al-Nueimi told The Associated Press. The fourth told the court that chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi tried to bribe him to make up testimony against Saddam.

The lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, contends that the defense introduced videotaped proof that a prosecution witness testified falsely, and asks why that witness hasn't been arrested. It's a fair question.