Iraq says Bush lied to UN

Iraq today denounced President Bush's speech to the United Nations as "full of lies" - but gave no details about what it disputed.

The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz made light of the speech in which the president had warned Iraq it must grant access to UN weapons inspectors or face military action.

"Bush's speech was full of lies and fabrications," Aziz told reporters in the Information Ministry building after giving an interview to an Arabic television channel.

He said he would hold a press conference later to comment further on the speech. He did not give a time or date.

In what was seen as a major initiative to prepare for a showdown with Iraq, Bush told the United Nations that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had been defying UN resolutions for long enough.

"If Iraq's regime defies us again, the world must move deliberately and decisively to hold Iraq to account," Bush said. "The just demands of peace and security will be met or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power."

UN Security Council resolutions passed after the 1991 Gulf War say Iraq must eliminate weapons of mass destruction, and the means to produce them, and that the UN sanctions on Iraq cannot be lifted until it has done so.

Iraq has refused access to UN weapons inspectors, who are charged with verifying such elimination, since 1998.

"If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and unconditionally forswear, disclose and remove or destroy all weapons of mass destruction, long–range missiles, and all related material," Bush said. He also demanded that Saddam stop supporting terrorism, persecuting minorities, trading oil illegally for other goods and account for a U.S. pilot and soldiers from other nations missing since the Gulf War.

Iraq claims it has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction and fulfilled the other requirements of the Gulf War resolutions.