IRAQ: Saddam Hussein gave his military leaders a hint yesterday of what might await them should any consider moving against him and fail.
"Treason everywhere is a state of weakness, it is the height of human weakness. As a matter of fact, it reflects man's renunciation of his humanity," he said, according to local newspaper reports, while warning his men to be vigilant against tracheary.
The Iraqi leader's survival for a quarter of a century has depended on a ruthless response to any hint of dissent, while US officials have supported the idea of amnesty for senior Iraqis to encourage a change in leadership short of war, such as a coup.
"Treason is an unmanly act . . . It does not frighten. However, in times of inattention, it may produce a treacherous act," the newspapers quoted him telling his officers.
In Canada, meanwhile, the Iraqi deputy prime minister, Mr Tariq Aziz, vowed retaliation against any US-led invasion of Iraq, including retaliation beyond Iraq's borders. Iraq would not not rule out launching an attack against Kuwait if that country was used as a base for a US military operation, he said in an interview with Canada's CBC television.
"Kuwait is a battlefield and American troops are in Kuwait and preparing themselves to attack Iraq," said Mr Aziz.
"If there will be an attack from Kuwait, I cannot say that we will not retaliate. We will of course retaliate against the American troops wherever they start their aggression on Iraq. This is legitimate.
"If the Americans try to invade Iraq they will be fought courageously and effectively and they will have a great number of casualties. The Americans are cheating themselves that they will be received with flowers. They will be received with bullets, not flowers. We have distributed hundreds of thousands of pieces of arms and we are confident."
In Baghdad last night, an Iraqi presidential adviser said that the UN inspectors' report was "unbalanced" and "disproportionate".
Gen Amir Rashid, who formerly held the oil and military industry portfolios, said that inspectors' criticisms of Iraq for not co-operating fully with the effort to eliminate the country's weapons of mass destruction did not represent the facts. Some issues had been "amplified and magnified into problems" creating a "somewhat negative" impression of the ongoing disarmament effort, he said.
"I would like to say Iraq has been free of any weapons of mass destruction since the end of 1991 and all the inspections . . . have proven this fact," he insisted.
He said that the interim report of the inspects failed to show they had not corroborated US and British allegations that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction.
The report he noted, did not point out that sites referred to by US and British intelligence agencies had provided no evidence of banned weaponry or material. He said Iraq expected the report would have concluded that US and British allegations had been "proven [to be] totally false".
Gen Rashid said Iraq had not ruled out the use of US U-2 spy planes, in spite of the fact that Security Council resolution 1441 does not not mention them. He said Iraq has also "encouraged" scientists to meet UN inspectors in private. While none has so far agreed, he hoped that this issue could be resolved soon.
The UN inspectorate announced yesterday that two Iraqi scientists had turned down requests for private interviews. Gen Rashid called this a "very sensitive issue" because the "rights of \ scientists need to be protected".
While Gen Rashid was critical of the report, he reiterated Iraq's determination to continue the inspection process until both sides are satisfied.
"We will be satisfied when the UN declares that Iraq has fulfilled its obligations" so that sanctions can be lifted. "This is our right." - (Additional reporting by Reuters and AFP)