Iraqi President Saddam Hussein promised Wednesday that his arch-enemies, the United States and Britain, would suffer further defeats in their decade-old battle with Iraq, said AFP.
"The United States and Britain will be subjected to more losses because their pursuit of aggression pushes Iraq to develop ways to defend itself," the Iraqi president said, quoted by the official INA news agency.
The Iraqi leader was speaking Wednesday night during a meeting with his deputy prime minister and military industry minister, Abdel Tawab Mulla Huweish, and his air defense military commander Shahin Yassin.
Saddam, speaking on the eve of the 11th anniversary of Iraq's disastrous 1990 invasion of Kuwait, was responding to new threats from Washington over Iraqi attempts to shoot down US and British planes flying over the country's north and southern regions.
Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti official said on Wednesday that Baghdad's intelligence services were plotting to launch “terrorist attacks” inside Kuwait.
"We strongly suspect that the Iraqi regime's intelligence will carry out terrorist operations" in Kuwait, Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al Ahmad said at a press conference, cited by the official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA.
"News originating (from Iraq) on the presence of armed (opposition) groups in Kuwait makes us sure that terrorist acts may be carried out inside Kuwait," he said.
But the minister denied that such “terrorist cells” were present in the emirate.
Earlier Wednesday, a senior Iraqi MP charged that the United States was cooking up excuses to attack Baghdad and denied a Pentagon accusation that a missile had been fired into Saudi airspace.
"Such allegations are meant to justify a new aggression against Iraq," Salem Al Qobeissi, chairman of Parliament's Arab and international relations committee, told AFP.
"First they (the Americans) said Iraq had fired a missile against a US plane in Kuwaiti airspace. US propaganda will continue to churn out these accusations," said Qobeissi.
US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice said Sunday, in an interview with CNN television, that Washington reserved the right to respond to threats from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Her remarks triggered criticism in the Middle East, even in Kuwait.
Iraq has tried to shoot down US planes twice in recent weeks, according to US military sources, which at one point described their assessment of an alleged ground-to-air missile attack as their "best guess."
The US and British no-fly zones were not included in the UN Security Council resolutions that authorized the war and sanctions against Iraq for its seven-month occupation of Kuwait in 1990 and 1991.
According to Pentagon officials, Iraq has dispersed missiles, radars and aircraft over the past week in apparent anticipation of US air strikes against its air defenses.
The moves include shifting some radar equipment near Baghdad above the 33rd parallel, outside the no-fly zone where US planes bomb with some frequency, they told CNN on Tuesday.
"We reserve the right to strike targets at a time and a place in a manner of our choosing," said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley.
Pentagon officials would not confirm any details of the planning, including the scale or timing of the possible attack, according to CNN.
"There is still work to be done," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicating an attack was not imminent.
The Pentagon on Tuesday repeated its charge that Iraq has been "considerably more aggressive" in its efforts to shoot down a US or British plane this year, compared to the same time last year.
The no-fly zones are allegedly in place to protect Iraq's Kurdish and Shiite minorities. They are not authorized by any UN Security Council Resolutions.
At the same time that US warplanes fly out of Turkish airbases to attack Iraqi targets, Turkish forces have been carrying out large-scale offensives against Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy - Albawaba.com
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