Attack would be 'disgraceful failure' warns Saddam

Anyone who attacks Iraq will die in "disgraceful failure," the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said in a speech to the nation today.

Speaking on the anniversary of the end of the Iraq-Iran war of 1980-88, Saddam made no direct mention of the US-British demand for the return of U.N. arms inspectors to Iraq.

The United States has warned Iraq of consequences if it does not allow UN inspections to resume, and Iraqi diplomats have held three meetings with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan this year to discuss the issue and related topics.

"The right way is that the Security Council should reply to the questions raised by Iraq and should honor its obligations under its own resolutions," Saddam said in the televised speech.

He was referring to 19 questions given to Annan at a meeting in March, and to the council resolutions which say that U.N. sanctions on Iraq can be lifted once it has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction and fulfilled other requirements.

Iraq has long said it has fulfilled these conditions and that the sanctions imposed since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait should be lifted.

Annan circulated the 19 questions, which deal with various Iraqi complaints, to the Security Council members, who have not replied.

Saddam spoke dressed in a dark gray suit in front of a white curtain and with a spread of white lilies on his desk.

Recent reports from Washington say the U.S. government is gearing for an attack on Iraq to topple Saddam. U.S. officials have not ruled out such a strike, but insist no decision has yet been made.

In his speech, Saddam did not mention America and Britain by name, but referred to them as the "forces of evil" — a phrase the Baghdad government frequently uses after U.S. and British airstrikes in the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq.

"The forces of evil will carry their coffins on their backs to die in disgraceful failure," he said.