At Saddam's second trial

At Saddam trial, Kurds describe attack:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Survivors described a chemical weapons attack on their villages in testimony Tuesday at the trial of Saddam Hussein, telling of poisonous clouds of gas that killed children and blinded residents during a military offensive against Kurds in 1987.

Those would be the chemical weapons Saddam never had.

Two survivors told the court about an April 16, 1987 attack on the Kurdish villages of Basilan and Sheik Wasan — believed to be the first time Saddam's regime used chemical weapons on Iraqi citizens.

"The villagers were blinded and they were vomiting — only God knows what it was like that night," said Najiba Khider Ahmed, a 41-year-old woman from Sheik Wasan. She described being held in a detention camp for nine days, where her brother and niece disappeared.

...

Another survivor, Ali Mostafa Hama, said the chemical bombs let off "greenish smoke. It was if there was a rotten apple or garlic smell minutes later. People were vomiting ... we were blind and screaming. There was no one to rescue us. Just God."

Saddam's defense gets some ink later on in the story. Plus, this deadline:

A verdict is due Oct. 16 in the first trial, which concerned a crackdown on Shiites in the town of Dujail in the 1980s. If Saddam is sentenced to death in the Dujail case and the verdict stands on appeal, Iraqi law provides for him to be taken off the second case for the sentence to be carried out, though Iraqi officials have been unclear on whether they would do so or continue with the Anfal case.