The US yesterday released a 22-page indictment of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, accusing him of seeking weapons of mass destruction and backing terrorism in a "decade of deception and defiance."
The document, issued hours before US President George W. Bush was to take his case to oust Saddam to the UN General Assembly, focuses on Iraq's violations of UN resolutions aimed at disarming him while making no new allegations.
The White House issued a "background paper" to help build momentum behind Bush's appeal for UN action.
"For more than a decade, Saddam Hussein has deceived and defied the will and resolutions of the United Nations Security Council by, among other things: continuing to seek and develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and prohibited long-range missiles," according to the document.
It also charged Saddam with "brutalizing the Iraqi people" including human rights violations and crimes against humanity, backing global terrorism, refusing to detail the fate of prisoners of war from the 1991 Gulf War, refusing to return stolen property and working to dodge UN economic sanctions.
But the report does not refer to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the US and does not echo recent US charges that Iraq is sheltering members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
It does, however, accuse Saddam of rewarding Palestinian suicide bombers by giving their families US$25,000 and alleges that he runs a terrorist training program where Iraqis and other Arabs are trained to hijack planes and trains, plant explosives and carry out assassinations.
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