BAGHDAD, Aug 25: Iraq taunted Washington on Sunday for failing to win world backing for war and having to resort to the black arts as even a key ally of George Bush warned the US president of perils lying in wait.

The Babel newspaper put the US administration “up another dead-end with the increase in international opposition to its stupid unilateral policy and military projects against Iraq.”

Washington “has suffered a resounding failure in its attempts to convince international public opinion of the excuses it uses to strike Iraq,” said the tabloid run by President Saddam Hussein’s elder son Uday.

As a result, the United States “is starting to use means with which it is familiar, that is to say threats, blackmail and terrorism, against countries who have stated their opposition to an American military offensive against Iraq,” the daily said.

WARNING FROM BAKER: Meanwhile, US President Geo-rge W. Bush, who appears to have publicly back-pedalled in his policy of overthrowing the Baghdad regime, may not have felt comfortable reading a warning from James Baker, the secretary of state to his father and ex-president George Bush during the 1991 Gulf War.

“Although the United States could certainly succeed, we should try our best not to have to go it alone, and the president should reject the advice of those who counsel doing so,” Baker wrote in the New York Times.

“The costs in all areas will be much greater, as will the political risks, both domestic and international, if we end up going it alone or with only one or two other countries,” added Baker, a lawyer, who represented Bush in his legal dispute with Democrat Al Gore over the 2000 election.

Baker argued that the only realistic way to effect regime change in Iraq was through massive use of military force, including the occupation of Baghdad and installation of a new government. He pointed out that would probably result in more casualties than the allies suffered during the Gulf War, and leave the United States alone to face the daunting task of occupying and administering a big and fractious country.

Instead, he urged the United States seek a new UN Security Council resolution requiring Iraq to submit to intrusive inspections anytime, anywhere, with no exceptions and authorizing all necessary means to enforce it.

“Seeking new authorization now is necessary, politically and practically, and will help build international support,” said Baker.—AFP