President Saddam Hussein issued a haunting warning to the United States that any new war was doomed to bloody failure, as fears mount that Washington will unleash military strikes on Iraq. "All empires and evil coffin-bearers have been buried with their sick dreams when they have sought to harm Arab and Muslim nations," the Iraqi strongman said, conjuring up images of bodybags the US adminstration will not want to contemplate.


"This inevitable result awaits all those who try to attack the Arabs and Muslims," he added in a sombre speech broadcast on state television to mark the 14th anniversary of the end of the Iran-Iraq war, which raged between 1980 and 1988.

He called on the United Nations, which has demanded that Baghdad re-admit disarmament inspectors, to honour its commitments to Iraq and to answer its questions, notably on sanctions.

"The right way is that the Security Council should reply to the questions raised by Iraq and should honour its obligations under its own resolutions," he said in a speech to the nation.

Iraq celebrates August 8 as the day of "victory" in the war that officially ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire on August 20, 1988.

Saddam only mentioned the United States by name once in reference to the 1991 Gulf War, but there was no doubt who he was talking about amid constant war-mongering in Washington.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld alleged that members of the al-Qaeda terrorist group are in Iraq but would not say whether their presence was sanctioned by the government.

He indicated that the administration hopes to steer the debate away from the particulars of military planning to the broader question of how to protect the world from countries like Iraq with weapons of mass destruction.

PHOTO CAPTION

President Saddam Hussein (C) chairs a cabinet meeting