September 8, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Saani29,1423

AMMAN, Sept 7: Iraq’s information minister said on Saturday US President George W. Bush was cheating the world by claiming Baghdad posed a threat while his true motive for a possible attack was to seize control of Iraqi oil.

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said any U.S. military action to oust President Saddam Hussein would fail.

“They, their sons and grandsons will be changed and nothing will be changed in Iraq,” Sahaf said. “The regime that is chosen by the people can’t be changed by foreigners.

“Let them stop this crap. They have ambitions and these ambitions will be destroyed at the gates of Iraq,” Sahaf told a news conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.

“There is a huge cheating operation. There are continuous lies,” Sahaf said. “We have nothing (to do) with the United States but it takes us for an enemy, it wants to control our country. It’s a powerful nation that wants to control the oil in Iraq.”

Asked about contacts between Bush and world leaders to discuss Iraq, Sahaf said: “This is part of a public relations campaign, the American way”.

“As if the world was asleep knowing nothing and the U.S. president woke it up with the ring of his telephone...It is a public relations campaign that carries a lot of fraud,” he said.

BUSH SEEKS SUPPORT: Bush sought support to his policy of “regime change” in Iraq in telephone calls on Friday with leaders of France, Russia and China, which along with the United States and Britain, are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

Some Western countries and most Arab states opposed a military strike on Iraq.

The United States accuses Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction. Baghdad denies the charge, though it has banned U.N. weapons inspectors from returning to Iraq since a U.S.-British military strike in December 1998.

Sahaf reiterated that Iraq was prepared for a comprehensive solution with the U.N. Security Council that included the lifting of sanctions and a conditional resumption of weapons inspections.

“If there are doubts (that Iraq still has banned weapons), there are ways to clear them up. You can’t clear doubts by sending cruise missiles,” he said.

“The Americans are not interested in a solution, they are interested in their vested interest, in their criminal interest to occupy Iraq and to dominate its oil. Therefore any questions about the return of the inspectors should be in the context of a solution,” Sahaf said.

Sahaf, also minister of culture, is in Amman to attend the opening of the Iraqi Cultural Week in the Jordanian capital.

Turkish PM: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Saturday Washington must consult Turkey about any military action over Iraq, which Ankara opposes.

NATO member Turkey allows U.S. and British planes to use an airbase to patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq and Washington is expected to seek more support if it goes ahead with threats to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

“We don’t want to come into disagreement with the United States but we also do not want war in our own region,” Ecevit was quoted as saying by Anatolian news agency.

“We have a very important request of the United States,” he said at a ceremony welcoming a new member to his Democratic Left Party.

“Turkey is the country most closely interested in the Iraqi issue. Therefore before taking any steps linked to Iraq, the United States absolutely must enter into dialogue with Turkey.”—Reuters