Iraq Vows to Defend Itself Against U.S. Attack

April 29, 2002

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Monday Iraq was ready to defend itself against any U.S. attack on the country.

"It seems they (U.S.) want to resume their wide aggression against Iraq and commit another crime as the (one) they committed in 1991," Aziz told reporters in Baghdad.

"The Iraqi people and Iraqi leadership are prepared to defend themselves," he said during a tour of a Baghdad shelter bombed during the 1991 U.S.-led war that ended Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Washington was contemplating a major air campaign and ground invasion early next year to topple the government of President Saddam Hussein .

The White House said President Bush has no military blueprint on his desk for toppling Saddam, but that the ouster of America's Gulf War nemesis is a top policy goal.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the Pentagon had "multiple contingency plans" for dealing with Iraq but that Bush had made no decisions on what course of action to take.

Bush has made no secret of the fact that he intends to move against Saddam at some point, publicly branding Iraq part of "an axis of evil," together with North Korea and Iran, countries he says could form a deadly alliance with terrorists by sharing weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq says it has no weapons of mass destruction.

Iraqi authorities brought five days of celebrations for Saddam's birthday to a climax Sunday with massive parades designed to show his popular support.

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