Doebbler is one of two American lawyers, along with former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, who have joined the defense team, though they have not attended every session. Doebbler is an international lawyer who is currently working as a visiting professor at Najah University in the West Bank town of Nablus.

He accused the court of ignoring the defense's requests. "We have not received one reasoned opnion in response to our enormous written submitions," he said.

Among the motions are ones questioning the tribunal's legitimacy, but others are more substantive, seeking documents the defense says are key. It has asked the court for the entire records of the 1984 trial by Saddam's Revolutionary Court that sentenced the 148 Shiites to death.

That trial is key to the case, since the prosecution has claimed it was a cursory showtrial in which the Shiites had no chance to present a defense. Saddam's lawyers have contended it was a fair legal proceeding and a justified reponse to the shooting attack on Saddam. The chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, Awad al-Bandar, is among the seven co-defendants in the Dujail case.

"We've not been able to visit the place where the Dujail events took place," Doebbler said. "I have asked to visit the place for a year and I haven't received any answer."

The defense has also sought an inquiry into claims by three of its witnesses that some of the 148 Shiites supposedly killed in the crackdown are still alive. Abdel-Rahman ordered an investigation, but there is no sign that one has begun and the three witnesses were among those he ordered arrested on perjury charges.

The defense argues that if some of the 148 are still alive, it casts the entire prosecution case in doubt and has demanded all the prosecution's documents be reviewed for authenticity.

Saddam and his co-defense face possible execution by hanging if convicted on the charges. The perceived fairness of the trial is a crucial issue, since U.S. and Iraqi officials have hoped that showing justice toward Saddam will help heal the deep Shiite-Sunni divisions that have exploded since his regime's fall.