Saddam denies having weapons of mass destruction

2.30pm

LONDON/BAGHDAD - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in remarks broadcast today on the eve of a key Security Council session on the United States case against Iraq, denied that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or links to al Qaeda.

"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," Saddam said in a rare interview recorded in Baghdad on Sunday and aired on British television's Channel Four news on Tuesday.

Saddam said the United States and Britain were intent on war to control oil in the Middle East.

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.

Secretary of State Colin Powell will go to the Security Council on Wednesday for what will likely be the United States' best chance to convince sceptical allies that Iraq has chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes.

The United States is amassing military forces in the Gulf in preparation for a possible war if Iraq does not rid itself of suspected biological and chemical weapons.

Military officials said the United States was sending F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters from New Mexico for use in a possible war with Iraq, while the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt started sailing toward the Gulf on Tuesday.

At the United Nations, chief UN inspector Hans Blix warned Iraq it was "five minutes to midnight", and said Baghdad urgently needed to show it was cooperating with inspectors when he visited there this weekend.

But Blix again disputed US assertions Iraq was trying to foil inspectors under their very noses, such as by moving equipment before his teams arrived.

On the diplomatic front, British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- Washington's key ally -- failed to win the backing of French President Jacques Chirac for an early war.

The European Union said it would join a last-gasp Arab peace mission to Baghdad, while up to 10 East European states were preparing a declaration of support for US efforts to disarm Iraq, government officials said.

The leaders of Iraqi neighbours Saudi Arabia -- the world's biggest oil producer -- and Jordan met in Riyadh to discuss ways to avert a conflict, with Arab nations fearing a devastating spinoff costing their economies billions of dollars in the event of war.

Gold surged to six-year highs and oil rose amid concerns about possible war. Stocks and the dollar sank.

In his interview with former British Labour Party Cabinet minister Tony Benn, Saddam declared, "We have no relationship with al Qaeda" -- the militant network headed by Osama bin Laden 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 added.

He reiterated that Iraq had no banned chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes. He also denied Iraq had breached last November's UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which warned of "serious consequence" if Baghdad failed to co-operate with US arms inspectors.

Powell's high-stakes UN speech, expected to last 90 minutes, is considered pivotal to Washington's effort to win over allies holding out against military action that Iraq constitutes a major threat. The session is scheduled to start at 4am Thursday NZDT.

Despite doubts among major countries like France, Russia and China, which hold vetoes on the Security Council, the United States is arguing the only way to disarm Iraq may be through the use of force.

US officials said Powell was expected to use newly declassified satellite photos and play recordings of intercepted conversations among Iraqi officials as part of a "multimedia" presentation.

Powell is also expected to accuse Baghdad of possible links with al Qaeda.

But US intelligence on the alleged links to the network is fragmentary and open to interpretation and will be only a small part of Powell's presentation, officials said on Tuesday.

Powell would focus mainly on what the United States believes are Iraq's attempts to hide weapons of mass destruction and deceive weapons inspectors, officials said.

Blix, along with his colleague Mohamed ElBaradei, in charge of nuclear arms teams, will go to Baghdad over the weekend at Iraq's invitation and report back to the Security Council on Iraq's cooperation on February 14, possibly for the last time before a US invasion.

"I'm pleading for Iraq to enter cooperation on substance," Blix said, adding, "I don't think the decision is final. I don't think that the end is there, that a date has been set for an armed action," he said. "But I think we are moving closer and closer to it."

"Isn't there five minutes to midnight in your political assessment?" he asked, suggesting it might be his last visit to Baghdad.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had talks with President Bush in Washington last week, said he thought a decision on taking military action against Iraq was less than a month away.

Kuwait, which Baghdad invaded in 1990 at the start of the last Gulf war, closed off its northern areas bordering Iraq to unauthorised personnel effective February 15.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq