Saddam: Iraq doesn't want war

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has declared that Baghdad wants peace – but not at the price of its dignity and independence.

The Iraqi leader yesterday told a visiting delegation of Russian politicians, including Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, that if the US carries out its threat to attack, Iraq will, “Triumph over it, God willing”.

“Iraq doesn’t want war,” he said. But he added that peace “at any cost” was not acceptable. “We shall not relinquish our independence, our dignity and our right to live and act freely.”

Even as the President spoke, UN weapons inspectors visited at least three sites involved in making rockets and their components.

The UN has not yet said whether it will insist that Iraq modify its Al Samoud 2 missiles, whose range has been found to exceed the 94-mile limit imposed by UN resolutions, or will require they be destroyed.

Under a 1991 Security Council resolution, all proscribed weapons systems must be destroyed or “rendered harmless”.

During a visit to Baghdad in January, chief arms inspector Hans Blix said the Iraqis suggested that when they fitted guidance and control systems and other devices to the missiles, they would be weighed down and fly within the legal distance.

Iraq’s foreign minister, Naji Sabri, was asked on Tuesday night what Iraq would do if told to destroy the missiles. He refused to answer, saying the question was too hypothetical.

Destruction of the Al Samouds would rob Iraq’s army of a potentially valuable military asset at a time when nearly 250,000 US and British troops have massed in the region in preparation for a possible invasion of Iraq.

The US and Britain, which accuse Iraq of concealing weapons of mass destruction, plan to press this week for a UN Security Council resolution authorising the use of force to disarm Iraq, US and British diplomats say.

The diplomats said they expected the negotiations to be wrapped up by the time Mr Blix delivers his next report on Iraq – March 1.

Hiro Ueki, spokesman for the inspectors in Baghdad, said the inspectors there have already identified and tagged 380 rocket engines which Mr Blix said were illegally imported by Iraq for use in the al Samoud missiles.

A UN spokesman said yesterday that inspectors were tagging more missiles.

The Iraqi Information Ministry said the weapons inspectors yesterday visited the al-Mamoun missile fuel plant and al-Karama complex, which manufactures missile components and guidance systems.

It said the experts also went to “Al Samoud site” and a military site in the al-Taji area north of Baghdad. Inspectors who visited a military unit in al-Taji earlier this week were seen by journalists examining Al Samoud missiles, but it was not immediately clear whether it was same site visited yesterday.

Also yesterday, US-British coalition warplanes patrolling the southern “no-fly” zone targeted an Iraqi mobile air defence radar and a mobile multiple-rocket system, the US military said. The targets were near Basra, approximately 250 miles south east of Baghdad.

Iraq was having trouble meeting another UN demand: encouraging scientists involved in weapons programmes to grant private interviews to inspectors from Unmovic, the UN Monitoring and Observation Commission led by Mr Blix.

Mr Ueki told reporters on Tuesday that only three of 30 scientists invited since the inspectors returned to Iraq in November have been willing to talk to Unmovic without a tape recorder – a condition the inspectors insist on because they believe it will make the scientists more candid.

The three scientists who gave interviews were suggested by the Iraqi government – not requested independently by the UN team, Mr Ueki said.

A separate team of UN nuclear inspectors has conducted more interviews but allowed the scientists to record them.