MOSCOW, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan minced no words by issuing a warning that the United States could face something "even more terrible" than the Sept. 11 attacks if it continues with its present policies.
Responding to President Bush's State of the Union address, in which he named Iraq as part of an "axis of evil," Ramadan spoke to a Russian newspaper, reiterating Baghdad's denials of involvement in the attacks and accused Washington of "dirty policies."
"The United States has toughened the policies that were the reason for the events in New York and Washington," Ramadan told Vremya Novostei.
"Its policies have become even dirtier. If things continue like this, I believe that America will draw an even stronger backfire," he said, adding that "something even more terrible than Sept. 11 may happen, it will be a very tough response."
Ramadan said, "American despotism concerns more and more nations every year."
In the same interview, Ramadan claimed that Iraq had destroyed banned weapons and called U.N. arms inspectors seeking to enter Iraq "spies."
Ramadan accused Moscow of making a mistake by proposing to the U.N. Security Council that sanctions imposed against Iraq be lifted in exchange for the return of U.N. arms inspectors.
The Iraqi official said he was concerned that if the Russian proposal comes up for a vote at the Security Council and is then rejected by Baghdad, "the United States could then use that as a pretext to launch a new aggression."
Russia has lobbied hard for the lifting of U.N.-imposed sanctions so as to allow Baghdad to begin repaying part of its $7-billion debt to Moscow in oil and trade.
Moscow has given Bush's speech a cool reception, taking particular offense at the inclusion of another pariah state -- Iran -- in the so-called "evil axis."
On Sunday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters at a security conference in Munich, Germany that "there is not a single clue that Iran has implemented or has ties with any terrorist organizations."
He went further, declaring that Moscow had "no information that would suggest the governments of these three countries (Iraq, Iran and North Korea) support terrorism."
Russia has recently improved ties with all three states mentioned by Bush in his speech.
