Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is urging the world to take a "just" position to stop the United States and Britain from achieving their "evil" schemes in a new UN resolution on arms inspections in Iraq.
He said Washington and London were "exerting pressure on the Security Council to take resolutions that contradict international law and the United Nations charter".
"Any just position by the world against the evil wishes of these countries will not be in the interest of Iraq alone but also in the interest of the countries of the world," Iraqi television quoted Saddam as telling visiting Malaysian Information Minister Khalil Yaacob today.
Saddam was referring to a new British-backed U.S. draft resolution now under debate at the United Nations. The resolution, expected to be adopted on Friday, will set tough terms for the return of U.N. arms inspectors to Iraq.
"If these two American and British administrations are able to achieve their wishes, the world would return to a new law, which is the law of evil based on power and opportunity rather than the law of love and justice," Saddam said.
The United States says the resolution is a last chance for Iraq to get rid of weapons of mass destruction or face war, but veto-holders France and Russia have yet to agree to the text.
The six-page draft gives U.N. arms inspectors far-reaching powers, including unrestricted rights to enter Saddam's palace compounds in their drive to scrap any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons Iraq may have.
Saddam said Baghdad, accused of breaching U.N. resolutions on disarmament, would not have had any conflict with the Security Council had it not been for the interference of the United States and Britain.
Saddam has repeatedly said that U.S. President George W. Bush's real motive behind his declared aim of "regime change" in Iraq is to control Baghdad's vast oil reserves.
Iraq's leading al-Thawra newspaper said China, France and Russia should oppose any wording in the U.S. draft that might be used to justify a military assault.
"America wants the resolution to include texts that it uses afterward as a pretext or a cover for committing aggression against Iraq," it said in a front-page editorial.
France has opposed any "hidden triggers" that would give the United States the right to attack Iraq, topple Saddam and then claim the United Nations had authorised it.
The draft says Iraq has "a final opportunity" to scrap weapons of mass destruction or face "serious consequences".
Once the resolution is adopted, Iraq has seven days to accept its terms and 30 days to submit a declaration of all programmes to develop nuclear, chemical, biological or ballistic weapons and all related materials.