BAGHDAD, Sept 8: Iraq reacted with defiance on Sunday to a US-British summit focusing on its possible nuclear arms threat, while Russia underlined international concern over the dangers of any pre-emptive military strike on Baghdad.

An Iraqi minister vowed his country would defend itself against any US attack, and Baghdad received support from an unlikely quarter — a former UN weapons inspector.

Scott Ritter, who in 1998 quit his UN job destroying any weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq, told parliament in Baghdad there was no evidence Iraq currently had them. A US attack would be a “historical mistake”, he said.

Apparently reflecting business as usual in the Iraqi capital, authorities went ahead with plans for a mid-October referendum on the rule of President Saddam Hussein, whom US President George Bush has pledged to topple.

Bush had talks on Saturday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said afterwards they had “total determination” to deal with Iraq but wanted the broadest international support.

Blair and Bush focused on a potential nuclear threat from Iraq at their Camp David talks, but both leaders left open whether they would take military action to counter it without the backing of other states.

Voicing defiance in the face of such a threat, Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh said during a visit to Cairo: “We hope to avoid war, but if it’s imposed on us we will fight to defend our land, our sovereignty and our independence.”

Russia stressed its opposition to any war against Iraq. Attempts to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign state under the pretext of the war on terrorism would result in “irreversible damage to the activities of the anti-terrorism coalition”, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying in Vladimir.

Britain called for a Western campaign to win hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis. An official speaking to reporters flying back from the Blair Bush summit said the West should try to reassure Iraqis they were not targets.

BAGHDAD CONDITIONS: Bush goes to the United Nations on Thursday to put the case for tough action to disarm Iraq, although veto-holding Security Council members have already expressed grave doubts. Apart from Russia, France and China are also skeptical.—Reuters