Baghdad shows defiance

LONDON - Renewed US talk of war to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein drew defiance from Baghdad yesterday.

United States warplanes attacked a radar site in northern Iraq and an air defence command facility in the south after what the US military called hostile acts against US and British jets patrolling two no-fly zones in Iraqi airspace.

The allied planes struck as Arab leaders digested Tuesday's call from US Vice-President Dick Cheney for pre-emptive action against Iraq, saying Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction posed a mortal danger to the United States.

"We could not care less about the threats that are out there. Iraq has a long history with these threats and such despotism," Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan told reporters in Syria after meeting President Bashar al-Assad.

In Baghdad, President Saddam Hussein told Qatar's Foreign Minister that a US assault on Iraq would be an attack on "all the Arab nation", said Iraqi News Agency.

Saddam said Iraq had implemented all its obligations under United Nations Security Council resolutions and accused the world body of failing to reciprocate by lifting crippling sanctions imposed 12 years ago for Baghdad'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," the Iraqi leader added.

Iraq has refused to allow UN weapons inspectors into the country since a US-British bombing campaign in December 1999.

- REUTERS

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