During the initial investigation in Rome, Hussain said he was motivated to participate in the attacks after viewing videos of war-torn Iraq. "I am against war," Osman said. "I've marched in peace rallies and nobody listened to me. I never thought of killing people." He explained that the bombs were never meant to detonate or kill anybody, only to draw attention to the Iraq war. Hussain was alleged to have stated: "More than praying we discussed work, politics, the war in Iraq ... we always had new films of the war in Iraq ... more than anything else those in which you could see Iraqi women and children who had been killed by US and UK soldiers." Other news sources reported that the bombers watched videos purportedly depicting
Coalition troops killing women and children in Iraq before embarking on their mission. Some quoted him as saying "
Muktar showed us some DVDs with images of the war in Iraq, especially women and children killed by American and British soldiers," Hussain said, adding that they were not to talk about these videos with others. "There was a feeling of hatred and conviction that it was necessary to give signal — to do something." Hussain denied links with either the Al-Qaeda or the 7 July bombers. He claimed there was no bomb in his rucksack, just ordinary flour and a detonator meant to make the loud popping sound that was heard.{{cite news | title = July 21 bombs were a hoax, court hears | work =
The Guardian | date = 2007-03-01 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/terrorism/story/0,,2024545,00.html | accessdate = 2007-03-03 ==Trial and sentence==