BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein had been dead nine days but his voice resounded through the courtroom Monday as he and his cousin "Chemical Ali" discussed killing thousands of Kurds in the 1980s, according to audiotapes played at their war crimes trial.

Ali Hassan al-Majeed (C), also known as 'Chemical Ali,' in the southern Iraqi province of Basra in a 1991 file photo. [Reuters]

Saddam's physical presence was gone - his chair in the white metal pen where the defendants sit was empty - but his aura still hung over the proceedings against his former regime members.

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The trial reconvened for the first time since Dec. 21 and a little more than a week since Saddam was hanged for the killing of 148 Shiites after an assassination attempt in the town of Dujail in 1982.

Meanwhile, new video of Saddam's corpse shortly after the hanging was posted on the Internet. It showed a gaping wound on Saddam's neck, with his head unnaturally twisted at a 90 degree angle to his right.

The video appeared to have been taken with a camera phone, like the graphic video of the hanging which showed guards taunting Saddam in the final moments of his life.

The court's first order of business Monday was to dismiss all charges against Saddam. His co-defendants - including his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" - remain in the dock for allegedly killing 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s as Iraq fought a protracted war with Iran.

Prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon aired graphic video during Monday's court session of scores of bodies in trucks and in piles on the street, overlaid with a voice purported to be that of al-Majid saying, "I will hit them with chemical weapons."

"Damn the international community if they say anything. I will strike them all with chemical weapons," the voice continued.

Another audiotape had a voice identified as Saddam's warning, "These weapons are only used at my orders." He also reassured colleagues that the weapons "kill by the thousands."

"It will force them out of their homes without water or food. It makes them evacuate their homes naked," the voice said.

In court, Al-Majid described the video as "painful," but said it showed the work of Iranian troops, not Iraqis. As for the audio, al-Majid did not deny the voices were his and Saddam's.

The tapes "not only condemn me, but the whole path that I was part of - the path of Saddam Hussein," al-Majid said.

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