The United States has released a 22-page indictment of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that accuses him of seeking weapons of mass destruction and backing terrorism in a "decade of deception and defiance".
The document, issued hours before 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.
Faced with firm opposition to unilateral US military strikes, the White House issued a "background paper" to help build momentum behind Mr Bush's appeal for UN action.
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"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 "brutalising 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.
The report does not refer to the September 11th terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, and it does not level recent US charges that Iraq is sheltering members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
But it does accuse Saddam of rewarding Palestinian suicide bombers by giving their families $25,000, and alleges he runs a terrorist training where Iraqis and other Arabs are trained to hijack planes and trains, planting explosives and carry out assassinations.
AFP