Baghdad warns Washington, says Iraq is not Afghanistan

Saddam made the remarks to commanders of his Republican Guards formation on Monday. ‘‘It seems that what the enemy called the fall of Taliban regime is tempting it to launch an aggression against Iraq,’’ Saddam told the officers led by his son Qusay who is the ‘‘supervisor’’ of the Guards, reports said.

But he said the Taliban had not even formed a state during their rule. ‘‘Iraq is different than Afghanistan because it is a rich country. Your country is organised and stable. No other country in the world is like it…It produces oil and does not need to import it…,’’ Saddam told his officers.

He told the commanders the Iraqi armed forces were in a better shape than in 1991 when a US-led coalition evicted them from Kuwait in a five-week campaign.

‘‘In 1991 we didn’t have experience in this type of fighting…but now our forces are stronger, our soldier understands better his duties. New weapons have been developed but generally they are the same,’’ he said.

‘‘No army in the world has gained experience in fighting an army like the experience that we gained from the circumstances we went through in 1991 and what followed.’’

Saddam recognised that Iraq had been hurt in military confrontations, but he said it had not been defeated.

Saddam dismissed Washington’s threats to use force to disarm Iraq as ‘‘empty clamour’’ aimed at achieving an old dream of occupying the oil-rich Gulf region.

‘‘One of the goals is to open the chance for the inspection teams to operate beyond the declared aim of the (UN) Security Council. All the goals of the Security Council are against Iraq and are unjust and illegal, including Resolution 1441. But spying on Iraq is not among the aims of these bad resolutions,’’ he said. (Reuters)