Today's trial has so far created very little interest in Baghdad. We have seen low-level coverage in Iraqi newspapers, and it has not been broadcast on television.

There are two key reason for this. The first is that Saddam Hussein has already been executed and, second, what happened in 1991 has very little relevance given what has happened more recently in Baghdad.

In short, the misery today is fresher in the memory of ordinary Iraqis than the misery of 16 years ago. Yes 100,000 Shia were killed but scores, or hundreds, of Iraqis are being killed every day as a result of today's conflict, so people feel that today's trial has little impact on their modern struggles.

In one respect, it is probably a good thing that there is not much interest, because it avoids the opening up of old wounds between Shia and Sunni Muslims at a time when the US is pressing the Shia-led Iraqi Government to work to promote reconciliation.

Highlighting today's trial would also remind the Shia as to how they felt betrayed by the US in 1991.

Those who rose up against the Saddam Hussein regime say that they did so partly because they felt that George Bush Snr had encouraged them to do so during the Gulf War.

But, having launched their uprising, they complain that they then obtained no protection at all from the US.

After the liberation of Kuwait, the Shia complained that the US effectively left them to their fate, failing as they did so to stop Saddam and his allies from squashing the rebellion in the most brutal fashion.

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