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Claiming to have accepted the UN resolution calling on Baghdad to give up its alleged weapons of mass destruction only to 'remove any excuse that could be used by the United States to wage war against Iraq', the latter urged India to play a mediatory role in resolving the standoff.
Addressing newspersons, Iraqi Ambassador Salah Al Mukhtar said the resolution was 'unjust and unprecedented in the history for many reasons', but Iraq has accepted it to 'prevent mass killings of millions of civilians'.
He claimed that the resolution was in contradiction of the UN Charter, which stresses on respecting the sovereignty of member states and guarantees justice for each member country.
Iraq regards India as a friendly nation, which has also become close to the US after the formation of the international coalition against global terrorism and therefore can play a crucial role in defusing the Iraq-US crisis, Al Mukhtar said.
Rubbishing the report about Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden having Iraqi links, he said, "Iraq, under the leadership of the Baath party, is a secular country, which has no ties to the Al Qaeda or any other fanatical group anywhere in the world."
"Rumsfeld claims some fundamental groups are working in the northern parts of Iraq," Al Mukhtar said.
Northern Iraq, he pointed out, is not under the control of the Iraqi government, but under that of American troops and Kurdish rebels. So if there is any Al Qaeda member in the northern parts of Iraq, it is the responsibility of the US and not Iraq, he added.
Al Mukhtar denied Osama bin-Laden had met Saddam Hussein and said, "This claim is being made just to justify an aggression on Iraq."
AN EARLIER INTERVIEW 'We must unite to convince the West that they cannot dictate terms to us'
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