United Nations: As US President George W Bush sought authorisation from the Congress for military action against Iraq, Baghdad has denied it has nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and accused Washington of aiming to control the Middle East oil by destroying it.

"The Bush administration wants to destroy Iraq in order to control the Middle East oil and consequently control the politics as well as the oil and economic policies of the whole world," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said addressing the United Nations General Assembly on September 19.

"If it succeeds in that, God forbids, it would dictate on you what each country needs for its economic development, what quantities of oil it is allowed to buy and at what prices, along with other conditions," he said.

Sabri said Iraq would allow experts from any state, which has doubts about its assertion on weapons of mass destruction to visit any establishment it wanted.

He said he hoped that no member state would be "deceived" by American statements that lack proof and provide a "moral and legal" cover to the "crimes it is committing against Iraq and other countries or to those crimes that it intends to commit against Iraq in the future".

However, the White House dismissed his speech, describing it as an attempt to lure the world down to some dead end road.

Washington is seeking more than elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction demanded by the UN Security Council resolutions. It wants President Saddam Hussein be toppled and replaced by another leader.

PTI