Iraqi Vice-President dismisses American threats

IRAQ yesterday brushed aside the growing threat of US military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said: “We could not care less about the threats that are out there. Iraq has a long history with these threats and such despotism.”

Speaking from Syria, Mr Ramadan said any return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq would not prevent US military strikes against his country.

In Baghdad, Saddam said a US assault on Iraq would be an attack on “all the Arab nations”, the official Iraqi news agency reported.

He insisted Iraq had implemented all its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions and accused the world body of failing to reciprocate by lifting crippling sanctions imposed 12 years ago for the nation’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

“If there is a genuine desire to find a solution, it has to be based on international legitimacy, international law and the UN Charter and has to include implementing commitments by all parties,” Saddam said.

Washington, which has accused Baghdad of rebuilding its banned weapons programmes and of supporting terrorism, is showing increasing signs of willingness to use military means to bring about what it calls “regime change” in Iraq.

On Monday Vice President Dick Cheney dismissed as “deeply flawed” the logic of those who argue against a pre-emptive strike on Iraq.

In Cairo, Arab diplomats said Iraq had launched a campaign to fan foreign, particularly other Arab, support.

Vice President Ramadan and Foreign Minister Naji Sabri already were on the road, and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz is expected to join them soon.

Meetings and rallies also were planned in Baghdad next week, and the Arab League foreign ministers put Iraq on the agenda of a September meeting.

Mr Ramadan discussed the threat of US attacks in talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus yesterday. Syria was part of the international coalition that fought alongside the US and Britain in the Gulf Ward.

“Iraq is indifferent to current threats,” Mr Ramadan said after the talks.

And Mr Assad reiterated Syria’s rejection of any threats against Iraq, said Syria’s official news agency.

Ramadan accused UN weapons inspectors of igniting past crises, which gave the US grounds to launch numerous attacks on Iraq since 1991.

He said: “They were the reason behind four US aggressions on our country since 1991. So why should their presence in Iraq now prevent new US attacks?”

He insisted Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, and that the US wants to oust Saddam regardless of the inspections issue.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani met with Iraqi officials including Saddam in Bagdhad yesterday.

The Minister said: “Iraq wants to cooperate with the United Nations, yet it has some suspicions that can be solved ... through frank dialogue.”

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who sent his own troops against Iraq a decade ago as part of the US-led Gulf War coalition, yesterday said this time he had warned the US against attacking Iraq “because of one or two individuals” at a time when Palestinian-Israeli violence is roiling the Arab street.

If the US hits Iraq, no Arab ruler would be “able to curb popular sentiments. There might be repercussions and we fear a state of disorder and chaos,” Mr Mubarak said in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.

President George Bush has warned Iraq of unspecified consequences if the UN inspectors - barred from Iraq since 1998 - are not readmitted.