US Eyes Oil Reserves when Talking War on Iraq: Saddam

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 03, 2002

US Eyes Oil Reserves when Talking War on Iraq: Saddam

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Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Monday accused the United States of trying to control the oil of the Middle East and manipulate the world economy by launching military attacks on Iraq, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

"The United States thinks that if it controls the oil of the Middle East, it can control the world, because the oil here accounts for 65 percent of global reserves," Saddam told visiting Belarus envoy Leonid Kozik.

"So if the United States destroys Iraq, it will control the oil of the Middle East and thus hold the oil prices worldwide," the Iraqi president said in his own version of explanation for US war threats against Iraq, which possibly holds the world's largest crude oil reserves.

Saddam warned that the result would be a US-dominated world economy, in which "the economic crisis in America would be averted and the rest of the world would be left in permanent crisis."

Saddam's remarks came as the United States is mulling over whether to achieve a "regime change" in Iraq by launching a full-scale war.

US President George W. Bush, who accused Iraq of pursuing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism, has repeatedly vowed to achieve a "regime change" in Iraq with all the tools at his disposal.

However, the United States has so far failed to win support from many of its European allies and Arab countries, which have voiced opposition to any war on Iraq without a UN mandate.

Kozik, head of the Belarus Syndicate Committees Union and head of the Common Iraqi-Belarus Committee, asserted his country's support to Iraq against the US threats, INA said.

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