It's about oil, not weapons, says defiant Saddam

LONDON - A defiant Saddam Hussein has denied that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction on the eve of a key Security Council session.

The Iraqi President, in his first interview in 12 years, also declared that Baghdad had no links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network blamed for the September 11 attacks.

"If we had a relationship with al Qaeda and we believed in that relationship, we wouldn't be ashamed to admit it," Saddam told former British Labour Cabinet minister Tony Benn.

Saddam's remarks, broadcast on Britain's Channel Four, drew a sharp response from United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, who today is expected to use satellite photographs and recorded conversations to try to persuade a sceptical world that Iraq is concealing its weapons of mass destruction and that war may be necessary to disarm it.

On hearing that Saddam had proclaimed his innocence, Mr Powell shot back: "Prove it."

In his interview, Saddam said the US and Britain were intent on war to control oil in the Middle East.

"There is only one truth, and therefore I tell you as I have said on many occasions before, that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Saddam reiterated that Iraq had no banned chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes.

He also denied Iraq had breached last November's United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, which warned of serious consequences if Baghdad failed to co-operate with US arms inspectors.

The White House dismissed Saddam's comments as more of the same.

"Given the fact that he has biological and chemical weapons, clearly what he said today is continual denials of the truth," spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Mr Powell's UN presentation today would include "photographs, transcripts, other information we have from solid sources," a Bush Administration official said.

"The goal is to bolster the statements already made by the inspectors to show how the Iraqis are hiding evidence, hiding weapons and in fact maintaining their weapons programmes even while the inspections go on."

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq