BEIRUT, August 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan warned Washington Friday, August 30 it will not be as easy to replace Saddam Hussein as it was the Taliban in Afghanistan, and dismissed U.S.-backed opposition groups being trained to help topple his regime.

“Iraq is not Afghanistan, and I believe the American administration itself knows that,” Ramadan told reporters after talks with President Emile Lahoud on the last day of visits to Beirut and Damascus to try to forge a common Arab position on the looming showdown, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

“We don't want to compare the two situations, as we are convinced that the aggression against Afghanistan is not finished and that America has not won,” said Ramadan after the hour-long meeting at the Baabda presidential palace east of the city.

Ramadan told reporters that the chances of successfully forming a new Iraqi government comprised of exiled activists, as was done to form the post-Taliban interim government in Afghanistan, were slim.

The Iraqi vice president called the toppling of Afghanistan's Taliban regime late last year and the coming to power in June there of President Hamid Karzai “an American game.”

Asked about Iraqi opposition groups preparing for U.S. strikes to remove Saddam, Ramadan dismissed their importance out of hand amid slipping public support for the strikes and a growing chorus of skepticism about Washington's Iraq policy.

“To talk about the Iraqi opposition is futile and does not warrant any comment because they have no roots in Iraq,” he said.

Former Iraqi officers in exile gathered in London last month and announced the formation of a war council to topple the Iraqi leader. They are set to hold another round of talks in London on Wednesday and Thursday.

Representatives of six Iraqi opposition groups have also met with senior U.S. officials in Washington to discuss future plans and funding.

Asked how Iraq's military could respond to a vastly stronger U.S. force, Ramadan said his country will respond “with all available means,” AFP reported.

But he rejected charges from U.S. President George W. Bush that Baghdad has been developing chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons, and that it could end up supplying them to terror groups.

“My country no longer possesses weapons of mass destruction and has no links with terrorism,” he repeated several times.

Iraq has been under UN sanctions since it invaded Kuwait in August 1990, leading to the Gulf War the following year in which its forces were expelled from the country by a U.S.-led coalition.

Washington has now threatened to topple Saddam over his alleged weapons of mass destruction program.

Ramadan, who again called for more talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on weapons inspectors, but who has also derided the inspections as useless, said Baghdad believes the U.S. will strike whether or not it allows them to resume.

“Iraq is convinced America will attack whether inspectors return or not. Iraqis are moreover hostile to them returning since they harm national security ... since their mission is spying,” he said.

The Iraqi official was clearly reacting to remarks Thursday by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said the world would rejoice over Saddam’s downfall the same way it did when a U.S.-led coalition defeated the Taliban in the “war on terror.”

Ramadan, who is to return to his country later Friday, met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, August 29 and said he believed there was an understanding between the two neighbors whose relations have been rapidly improving.

His visits to Lebanon and to Syria were part of an effort by Iraqi diplomats to win support from Arab states against Washington.

“The Syrian position is manifestly clear. There is a great common understanding on the ins and outs of the (American) aggression.

“We have a common approach with Syria and Lebanon on the aggression which is targeting not just Iraq, but the whole region,” said Ramadan, who delivered a message from Saddam to the Lebanese president on the need for Arab unity.

Iraq will raise the issue at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo scheduled for September 5, he said.

Ramadan delivered to Lahoud a letter from his Iraqi counterpart during the meeting, which was also attended by Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud, Minister of State Beshara Merhej, Ramadan adviser Nabil Najm and Iraqi Charge d’Affaires Nabil Janabi, the Daily Star reported.

For his part, Lahoud said that “decisions of the Beirut Arab summit form the basis for all Arab countries facing a potential offensive against Iraq, which has shown readiness to cooperate with international resolutions.”

He added that he would urge Arab leaders, in his capacity as chairman of the Arab summit, to exert pressure from various angles to stop the targeting of Iraq.

The two leaders discussed the likelihood of reaching a unified Arab stance against any attack on Iraq during the 118th Arab Foreign Ministers meeting in Cairo next Wednesday, the paper said.

Iraq’s diplomatic campaign to solicit support has coincided with clear disagreements between the United States and its European allies.