LONDON, February 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraqi President Saddam stressed that Iraq is free from weapons of mass destruction and denied links with al-Qaeda network.

"We have no relationship with al-Qaeda," Saddam said in a rear interview with veteran British politician and former lawmaker Tony Benn broadcast Tuesday, February 4, by shown by Britain's independent Channel 4 television network.

"If we had a relationship with al-Qaeda and we believed in that relationship, we wouldn't be ashamed to admit it," Saddam said.

Washington and London have accused Iraq of helping al-Qaeda, which the U.S. blames for the 11 September attacks, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He also insisted that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, and accused Britain and the United States of being intent on war because of their desire to control oil in the Middle East, reported the BBC News Online.

Saddam insisted that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, and that it had been fulfilling its obligations under U.N. Security Council resolution 1441, but said the world had reached a "critical situation".

"There is only one truth and therefore I tell you as I have said on many occasions before that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction whatsoever," the Iraqi president said.

"We challenge anyone who claims that we have to bring forward any evidence and present it to public opinion."

"These weapons do not come in small pills that you can hide in your pocket," he stressed.

"These are weapons of mass destruction, and it is easy to work out if Iraq has them or not."

"It is in our interests to help them (U.N. inspectors) reach the truth.

"The question is whether the other side wants to reach the truth or whether it wants to find a pretext for aggression.

"When Iraq objects to the conduct of those implementing the Security Council resolutions, that doesn't mean that Iraq wishes to push things to confrontation. Iraq has no interest in war," stressed Saddam.

"No Iraqi official or ordinary citizen has expressed a wish to go to war," he told Benn in the interview at a presidential palace in Baghdad.

The U.S. and Britain claim Iraq is hiding prohibited weapons or related documents from United Nations arms inspectors, who returned to Iraq last November.

The Iraqi leader accused the U.S. of aggression motivated by their desire to control oil in the Middle East.

"The consecutive American administrations were led to a path of hostility against the people of this region, including our own nation," he said.

"Therefore the destruction of Iraq is a pre-requisite to controlling oil," he charged.

"The most important factor in controlling oil is to destroy Iraq."

"It seems to me that this hostility is a trademark of the current U.S. administration and is based on its wish to control the world and spread its hegemony," Saddam Hussein asserted.

Alluding to U.S. President George W Bush, Saddam Hussein said anyone who thought they could act without regard for the rest of the world was "lacking in wisdom".

The interview, recorded on Sunday, February 2, at Saddam’s presidential palace in Baghdad, was being aired a day before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presents fresh evidence against Iraq to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, February 5.

Commenting on the interview, analysts said Saddam steered away from his usual threats and aggressive language, the latest of which his threat during a meeting with his top brass on Friday, January 31, to kill as many as one million American soldiers should they dare invade Iraq.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair declined immediate comment, apart from saying: "It is for Channel 4 to judge whether any interview carried by them accords to journalistic standards."

The British government has alleged, without elaborating, that "links" exist between al-Qaeda and individuals inside Iraq, which stands accused of refusing to comply with U.N. demands to give up chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Benn, a former British cabinet minister and now an leading anti-war campaigner, denied he was being used by the Iraqi government, adding that he paid his own flight and hotel bill for his stay in Iraq.

The interview was secured from Arab Television (ATV), the British-based production company which filmed it.

Channel 4 defended its decision to broadcast Saddam's comments.

"Even the voice of a man anathema to people of the West must be heard as part of the raging debate over whether we should go to war," said Dorothy Byrne, head of news and current affairs at Channel 4.

A staunch pacifist, Benn, 77, met Saddam in 1990 to try to prevent the escalation of the crisis following the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.

Benn spoke on Sunday with Saddam for two hours, during a meeting that was video-taped by an Iraqi television crew with Arabic- and English-speaking interpreters on hand.

Benn said in Baghdad afterwards that Saddam remained "optimistic" about avoiding a U.S.-led war against Iraq.

Speaking to reporters after returning to London's Heathrow airport Monday, Benn described the tone of his discussions with Saddam as "very serious," and said that they covered Iraq's alleged failure to cooperate with 12 years' worth of U.N. resolutions to disarm.

Benn stressed that the crisis was driven by a U.S. thirst for oil.

"If I believe for one moment it really was about weapons of mass destruction, I would take a different view," he said.