Saddam Accuses US of 'Racial & Religious Discrimination'

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, February 16, 2003

Saddam Accuses US of 'Racial & Religious Discrimination'

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Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said on Saturday the United States wants to launch a war against Iraq because it is an Arab Muslim country, terming the US act as "racial and religious discrimination," the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

"What is wanted from Iraq? Isn't it the rights of the Iraqis and Arabs to say that the reason for this aggression is because Iraq is an Arab Muslim country?" Saddam told Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, a special envoy of Pope John Paul II.

"Why is this aggressiveness against Iraq under frail pretexts ... at the time Israel has all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, killing the Palestinians and destroying their properties?" Saddam asked.

"Isn't this a clear racial and religious discrimination? This is the question," the president said.

Etchegaray told reporters after the meeting that Saddam said to him the UN arms inspectors had not found any nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and "despite that, some still say that launching war is necessary to disarm Iraq."

The United States accuses Iraq of secretly developing weapons of mass destruction and is pouring tens of thousands of troops into the Gulf region to back up its threats to disarm Baghdad by force.

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