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<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House sought to have an administration official counter Saddam Hussein's claims in an interview with CBS' Dan Rather, but could not reach agreement with the network on the right person to do it.</p> <p>Much of the interview was airing Wednesday night on "60 Minutes II."</p>

(CBS) There are just two men in the world now who can prevent a new U.S.-led war in Iraq, and CBS News Anchor Dan Rather sat down with one of them: the president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. In his first interview with an American journalist in a decade, Hussein talked for more than three hours about the looming war and his efforts to head it off. Saddam indicated he will not destroy -- as ordered by the U.N. -- his arsenal of controversial al Samoud missiles. Saddam also challenged President Bush to a televised debate about their differences. CBS News...

NEW YORK, Feb 24, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- CBS News' Dan Rather said hard work and luck helped him land his interview with Saddam Hussein on Monday - the Iraqi leader's first interview with a foreign television journalist in 12 years. CBS posted a report about the interview on its Web site Monday afternoon, saying Saddam has challenged President Bush to a live debate on their nations' differences. It's the biggest interview "get" of the year in television news, one all the national news organizations had been seeking. Reached by telephone in Baghdad, Rather credited his executive producer,...

Hussein calls for debate with Bush Iraqi leader also tells CBS anchor he won't destroy banned missiles 02/25/2003 Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Monday challenged President Bush to an internationally televised debate and indicated that he did not intend to follow U.N. orders to destroy his al-Samoud 2 missiles. In an interview with CBS anchor Dan Rather, Mr. Hussein said he envisioned a live debate with Mr. Bush along the lines of those in a U.S. presidential campaign, CBS said on its Web site. Regarding chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix's order that Iraq...

Saddam Expects War Soon (CBS) In an exclusive interview with CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein indicated he feels an invasion aimed at unseating him will come soon. Speaking to an American journalist for the first time in about a decade, Saddam also denied his Al Samoud 2 missiles were illegal and challenged President Bush to debate the need for war. The wide-ranging three-hour interview covered Saddam's feelings on his own people, the American public, Osama bin Laden, and what his own fate might be. Saddam made it clear that he takes the threat of war seriously...

So why did Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein choose CBS tycoon Dan Rather to be his propaganda tool? Rather claims it was because of "hard work and luck." Here's the truth: Fanatical Bush-hater Ramsey Clark, a force in the pro-Saddam appeasement movement, set it up. Thus reports the Associated Press. Clark, of course, was attorney general to the disastrous Lyndon Johnson, who pursued that really popular Democrat war in Vietnam. Clark has even visited his pal Saddam in Iraq. Useful IdiotIn giving Saddam a propaganda platform to spout his self-serving rhetoric, Rather handed him a nationwide audience for his attempt...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House criticized CBS television on Wednesday over what a spokesman said was a spurned offer to rebut comments by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during an interview to be broadcast on Wednesday evening. "This seems odd they wouldn't let the White House have a voice," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told Reuters. He said the White House had offered a representative to counter what he said would be propaganda, lies and irresponsible statements by Saddam in the rare interview, but he said CBS replied it was interested only if President Bush made the response himself. CBS...