Iraqi envoy: US after our oil fields

The United States wants to go to war against Iraq because it is really after its oil fields, Iraq’s chargé d’affaires in Manila said yesterday.

Speaking in a forum with students at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila, Samir-A-Masih Bolous also belied US claims that his country secretly possesses weapons of mass destruction.

He said sites used for manufacturing chemical and biological weapons were destroyed years ago by Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War in accordance with resolutions passed by the United Nations.

"So if all the sites were destroyed, what are they (Americans) now after? It is not that which they are looking for. They want the oil wells. And with that they would be able to control the whole world," Bolous said.

Washington had warned that it would disarm Iraq by force — alone if necessary — if Baghdad does not destroy the weapons.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell will present a report today to the United Nations Security Council to convince skeptical US allies that Iraq is hiding chemical and biological weapons from UN inspectors.

US President George W. Bush also accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of supporting the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, blamed by the US for the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York and Washington that left thousands of people dead.

Bolous denied the charge. "This is another lie. Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism. We have no links to terrorist groups or actions."

Bolous said UN inspectors have searched at least 548 sites where Baghdad is suspected of hiding weapons of mass destruction and have largely found nothing.

"You should not believe their (the United States and Britain) allegations. This aggression is against humanity. It will not hurt only Iraqis but everybody. We must unite efforts to prevent this war and achieve peace," Bolous said.

Meanwhile, Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., who also spoke at the forum, doubted the veracity of the report Powell will present.

"The US will destroy the UN and the friendship of many countries. It would be hard to believe the data that Powell would be presenting," he said.

Guingona, however, added that the Philippines will support a US-led war on Iraq if authorized by the United Nations. "The government may be obliged as a member but people are free to speak out against this unjust and oppressive war," he said.

If Washington had solid information proving that Iraq was violating UN resolutions, it should have been presented to the UN Security Council, Guingona argued.

A nationalist, Guingona has been at odds with President Arroyo over the country’s stand on the latest standoff between Iraq and the United States.

He resigned last year from his second post of foreign affairs secretary after publicly disagreeing with the President on the presence of US troops in the country.

Early last year, about 1,000 US soldiers spent six months in the southern Philippines to train Filipino troops on combating terrorism.

Mrs. Arroyo says her administration will support military action against Iraq if it is authorized by the United Nations.

If Washington goes to war against Iraq without UN authorization, the government will convene a national security meeting to determine what position to take, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said.