First Look: The Saddam trial resumes

Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's trial resumed on Monday after a gap of five weeks.

Sources close to United States President George W Bush have said 'there will be more charges' if Hussein is found not guilty.

Senior Bush administration officials are said to be pondering over the 'unthinkable' - what to do if Saddam is ultimately found not guilty, internet news portal Drudge Report said.

"There will be more charges filed against him and more charges after that, if needed. He has committed tremendous crimes," columnist Matt Drudge, famous for breaking the news on the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton affair, wrote in the report quoting a 'top Bush source'.

Hussein and seven others are facing charges of crimes against humanity for the 1982 massacre of Shiite villagers. The prosecution is hoping to get a conviction based, among other things, on a videotape that has Hussein issuing assassination orders.

Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein gestures as he addresses presiding Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin during his trial held under tight security in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone  on Monday.

Photograph: BEN CURTIS/AFP/Getty Images