Iraq condemns Blair dossier

Iraq has been pouring scorn on Blair for weeks

Iraq has dismissed as "baseless" the UK Government's dossier on Iraqi weapons programmes, accusing Prime Minister Tony Blair of "scaremongering".

The Iraqi Culture Minister, Hamid Hammadi, said Mr Blair was "acting as part of the Zionist campaign against Iraq and all his claims are baseless".

Nuclear weapons and arms of mass destruction cannot be hidden in pockets

Naji Sabri
Iraqi Foreign Minister

In Cairo, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, said the dossier "aims to justify the unjustifiable... aggressive intentions against Iraq".

"This is just scaremongering, exaggeration and lies," he said.

He challenged Britain to substantiate the dossier, saying Baghdad was "ready to facilitate a visit by British experts so they can tell the world where the weapons are".

Iraq has repeatedly denied allegations that it is developing weapons of mass destruction and has agreed to allow United Nations weapons inspectors back in for the first time since 1998.

	:	Dossier at-a-glance
Iraq and weapons of mass destruction

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Iraqi presidential adviser Amer Saadi, quoted by the French news agency AFP, said Baghdad was ready to give inspectors "unfettered access" to weapons sites named in the dossier.

US praises Blair

US President George W Bush welcomed the 50-page dossier, praising Mr Blair's tough stance against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"We don't trust this man and that's what the Blair report showed today," Mr Bush said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the dossier was "frightening in terms of Iraq's intentions and abilities to acquire weapons".

But the dossier did not appear to contain much new evidence on the alleged Iraqi threat, and Israeli Government spokesman Avi Pazner said it was "not new for us, it is no surprise".

China speaks out

Several countries reiterated their anxiety about US and British preparations for a possible military strike against Iraq.

The dossier does not submit any evidence, but rather fabricates evidence... it's a total disappointment

Dr Labib Kamhawi
Jordanian political scientist

The Chinese Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji, warned that any attack on Iraq without a UN mandate would lead to unspecified "severe consequences".

France, another permanent member of the UN Security Council, also restated its reservations about using military force.

President Jacques Chirac, said: "I don't believe that war is unavoidable.

"I still think it's the worst solution, and we should do everything to agree the only solution - that Iraq accepts unconditionally the return of inspectors."

The Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, told the BBC that the British and Americans needed to listen to the rest of the world.

The UK pulled its diplomats out of Iraq before 1991

"I certainly do not like the idea of pre-emptive strikes in order to prevent possible acts of terror, because if there is going to be a pre-emptive strike then who makes the decision?" he said.

Russia also stressed that UN weapons inspectors should go to Iraq and look for hard evidence on the ground.

"Only experts can determine whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko.

Arab scepticism

The BBC Middle East correspondent Paul Wood says that in the Arab world people are asking why UN resolutions on Iraq should be enforced while those on Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories are not.

According to Dr Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian political scientist, the UK dossier "does not submit any evidence, but rather fabricates evidence, and there is a big difference between both".

"Frankly, it's a total disappointment, because one expected that Mr Blair would come out with something that is more serious and more substantive."

Our correspondent says there is a widespread belief in the Arab world that the goal of US policy is to control Iraq's oil resources, with Britain sharing in the spoils.

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