Iraq Assails 'Little Bush,' Markets Jittery

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq blasted on Monday what it called the mad campaign of "little Bush," the U.S. president threatening to go to war if Baghdad fails to give up alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Around Baghdad, U.N. experts looking for weapons visited three sites while Iraq said it would soon receive a first batch of Arab and European volunteers ready to act as human shields to try to stave off a U.S. attack.

"The administration of little Bush is launching a mad campaign based on lies and accusations," the ruling Baath Party newspaper al-Thawra wrote in a front-page editorial directed at President Bush , whose father George Bush spearheaded the first U.S. campaign against Iraq as president in 1991.

In Washington, a U.S. official said the campaign to rid Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of any weapons of mass destruction was nearing an end.

"While we have not given up on disarming Iraq through the United Nations , we are now entering a final phase in how we compel Saddam Hussein to disarm," the official told Reuters.

Saddam and his officials said on Sunday that Iraq was doing all it could to cooperate with the United Nations, which has scores of inspectors scouring the country for evidence of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

Iraq insisted on Sunday it had no secret weapons and challenged Washington to send in CIA agents to prove otherwise.

In signs the market believed war was increasingly likely, oil prices climbed close to three-month highs. Gold, seen as a safe store of value in troubled times, headed higher also, boosted by a weaker dollar.

One of at least three sites visited by U.N. experts on Monday was a closed baby milk plant where the facility chief told reporters later: "It was an ordinary visit and we answered all their questions."

The chief, Youssef Taher, did not say what banned material the plant had been suspected of producing. He said the plant closed three years ago due to the high cost of producing milk locally compared to importing it.

An Iraqi official said Arab and European volunteers would arrive soon to act as human shields to guard vital and strategic installations from U.S. attacks.

The last time Iraq used people as human shields was in December 1998 when Washington and London launched an extensive air and missile bombing campaign for Iraq's alleged failure to cooperate with U.N. arms experts.

The United States and Britain have made no secret of their preparations for war to back up demands that Saddam come clean.

Their war of words with Iraq has been fueled by leaked media reports of a predicted ground war victory in two days and of plans for a joint seaborne invasion on Iraq, a country that has hardly any coast.

Officials say a U.S. build-up could place more than 100,000 troops in the Gulf region in January or February. A January 27 briefing by U.N. arms inspectors to the Security Council is widely seen as the next key date.

Israel, a target for Iraqi missiles during the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, is due to go on high alert from January 15, Israeli media said

This is starting to look like two drunks in a bar row over something neither one of them remembers. But they'll be damned if they back down.

I'm so tired of the machismo game. And I'm in favor of a Hussein-less world any way we can have it.

This is starting to look like two drunks in a bar row over something neither one of them remembers. But they'll be damned if they back down.

I'm so tired of the machismo game. And I'm in favor of a Hussein-less world any way we can have it.

I'm starting to wonder why all these "second chances" are being given to Iraq. If this keeps up, WE are the ones who will look like fools. LETS GET THIS DONE!!!

The Dum S**t Iraqi's do not understand that a self assured Texan can not be insulted. He has a plan and no amount of name calling will change the situation. Saddam's death will. When the Iraqi's figure that out, things may change.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.