Saddam says he's complied. Sanctions should be lifted.
In a statement issued after a meeting with his senior advisers, the Iraqi leader said the reports of Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei showed that Iraq had met all its obligations under UN resolutions.
He added that they had exposed what he called American lies about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction programmes.
"The embargo against Iraq should be lifted totally and comprehensively after America's motives were revealed to the world and after Iraq abided by Security Council resolutions," the statement said.
It also demanded that the Security Council denounce the United States and Britain as "liars", strip Israel of its alleged weapons of mass destruction and force it to pull out of "Palestine and occupied Arab land".
'No room for compromise'
The BBC's Paul Wood, who is in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, says the statement does not appear to leave much room for compromise with Washington and London.
The United States and Britain have given Iraq what they describe as one last chance to live up to UN resolutions and avoid war, he says, but Iraq is saying that it has already done so.
o o o
Hmmm. Do you suppose this will influence the votes on the next SC resolution (rumored for Tuesday March 11)? I think it's just more of the same from Saddam, but it might put more pressure on France and the anti-block to better justify their contention that Saddam is cooperating.
Cheers,
Scott.
