Iraq denies involvement in terror attacks

Iraq has said it had nothing to do with the September 11 terror attacks or the anthrax scare, describing hints of Baghdad’s involvement as ‘‘sinister’’ and ‘‘baseless’’.

‘‘Iraq has nothing to do with all that happened in America between September 11 and now,’’ Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said.

Aziz was responding to accusations by former CIA Director James Woolsey that Iraq may have been involved and that the United States would probably have to confront Saddam Hussein as part of its drive to eradicate terrorism.

Anthrax exists in many countries, including the United States, Aziz said. ‘‘So connecting Iraq with those events is sinister and is baseless.’’

Aziz also accused the United States of trying to attack Iraq to ‘‘get rid of this government because it is an independent, honest government. That’s it.’’

But Aziz acknowledged that Iraq had in the past experimented with anthrax, but stressed that the material used was not of high grade and that it all had been destroyed.

‘‘We worked on anthrax in the 1980s, and in the 1990s we destroyed all our anthrax assets. They were not high-grade.’’ Aziz said.

‘‘We proved our good intentions for seven-and-a-half years. Why should we? They (UN arms inspectors) were here for a purpose, and their goal was to finish their job, and lift the sanctions.

‘‘They finished their job but the sanctions were not lifted.’’

The inspectors left Iraq in December 1998 shortly before the United States and Britain attacked Iraq to punish it for not co-operating with them.

Sweeping sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990 following its invasion of Kuwait. They can only be lifted when the inspectors verify that Iraq has dismantled its mass-destruction weapons and the capability to manufacture them.

The US government has said that the anthrax sent in contaminated letters in the United States could not have been stolen from US stockpiles, because its offensive germ warfare agents were destroyed nearly three decades ago as part of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.

The Pentagon has said that up to 10 countries may possess anthrax weapons, including China, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, North Korea, South Korea, Syria, Taiwan and Russia.