Bush dismisses Iraqi 'trickery'

THE United States last night insisted that if Iraq obeys UN orders to destroy its ballistic missiles, the move will still leave Baghdad far short of UN demands and not stop the march toward a possible war.

President George W Bush "views this as continued trickery, continued deception. I think it's fair to say that the Iraqi regime is a deception wrapped in a lie inside a fraud," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

In Madrid, British Prime Minister Tony Blair dismissed Iraq's pledge to begin dismantling its missiles.