Subj:	Hussein: War may spread, set 'world on fire'
Date:	10/30/01 10:22:25 AM Pacific Standard Time

Hussein: War may spread, set 'world on fire'

October 30, 2001 Posted: 9:28 AM EST (1428 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warned
Tuesday that the U.S.-led war on terrorism could spread
beyond Afghanistan, calling on other countries to help
defeat the United States.

In a letter addressed to the "people and governments of the
West, including the United States," Hussein called the
military action in Afghanistan a spark that could set "the
world on fire."

"The world now needs to abort the U.S. aggressive schemes,
including its aggression on the Afghan people, which must
stop," the Iraqi leader said.

Hussein's letter also alluded to recent anthrax attacks in
the United States. The New York Times and The Washington
Post reported last week that only the United States, the
former Soviet Union and Iraq possessed the necessary
technology to make the high-grade, advanced anthrax powder
mailed to, among others, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle,
D-South Dakota.

Other reports suggest the bacteria could have been
homegrown, and federal officials have stated publicly that
they don't know where the anthrax originated.

Reports that the bacteria was created and altered in the
United States, Hussein said, could be designed to reassure
Americans by allowing them to believe domestic attacks can
be more easily contained than those hatched by an outside
source such as Osama bin Laden.

Iraq would give up any weapons of mass destruction if the
United States and Israel do the same, the Iraqi leader
added. Baghdad has said that its deadliest weapons have been
destroyed, but it has not allowed U.N. weapons inspectors to
return to Iraq and certify this assertion.

Inspections will not resume unless U.N. sanctions against
the Mideast country are lifted, according to Iraqi
officials.