BAGHDAD, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Iraq's vice president on Sunday accused the United States of using the return of international weapons inspectors as a pretext to oust Saddam Hussein.
In remarks published in Iraqi newspapers, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan also said claims that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction "are allegations in the minds of American and Zionist politicians."
Ramadan said the United States intends to strike Iraq whether it agrees to a return of arms inspectors or not, and insisted that their return was an issue between Iraq and the United Nations, "which does not involve America."
He said, "Washington's claims that it would not resort to military strikes if Iraq agreed to the return of inspectors is not believable."
He added that President George W. Bush was "uncomfortable with the ruling regime in Iraq because of its pan-Arab nationalist positions, its defiance of the American insolence, and support for the just cause of our Palestinian people, and their blessed intifada (uprising)."
Ramadan, who accused the Bush administration of "trying to revive old colonization when colonization has long gone," said the U.S. was "trying to create pretexts to strike Iraq."
He added the United States was "afraid of a backlash if it hits Iraq, and is now trying to find a financier to blackmail in order to impose its hegemony on the rest of the world."
On Turkey's position that it would support U.S. military operations against Iraq, Ramadan said Baghdad had discussed the issue with Ankara "because it constitutes a dangerous precedent in Turkish-Arab relations."
The Iraqi official said "Turkey's future is better off in establishing better ties with the Arab nation." He said he hoped the Turkish government would abandon its "suspicious role that will ultimately harm Turkey."
