"The onus is on us to prove we don't have any (weapons of mass destruction). Is that credible? Is that just? How can you prove a negative?"

BAGHDAD, Iraq, January 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Iraq believes it has done enough to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors but sees a U.S.-led war as almost inevitable, a leading U.S. newspaper quoted a top adviser to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as saying Sunday, January 26.

Gen. Amir Saadi vocalized fear a United States attack might be inevitable, regardless of what United Nations inspectors conclude about the last two months of renewed searches for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the Washington Post reported.

Saadi said it would be impossible for Iraq to make demonstrations that it is free of weapons of mass destruction.

"The onus is on us to prove we don't have any," he said. "Is that credible? Is that just? How can you prove a negative?"

Saadi said he still held out hope that "wise men and wise minds" would find a way to avert war.

He pointedly slammed Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz as people unwilling to heed "any wisdom."

Providing a rare glimpse into the strategic thinking of Hussein's secretive, authoritarian government, Saadi suggested Iraq would not alter its policy toward the inspections and overall disarmament.

Although U.N. and U.S. officials demand that the government work actively to resolve conflicts over the private questioning of scientists, the handover of documents and a host of other issues, Iraq believes that it is already "doing all the things we think can prevent war," he stressed.

With tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops headed to the Gulf for a possible invasion of Iraq, Saadi voiced a sense that war could not be averted.

"When preparations for war go to this extent, if we go by the First World War and the Second World War, simply mobilizing is enough to make the process irreversible," the Washington Post quoted Saadi, a British-trained chemist regarded as one of Hussein's most trusted lieutenants, as saying.

"After you mobilize, that's it. It takes a momentum of its own."

Calling the U.S. military buildup "far in excess of what's reasonable," he said, "one tends to think it's coming no matter what we do."

Saadi rejected the Bush administration's contention that Hussein bears the responsibility for averting war, arguing that the only way to end the showdown would be for the United States to step back.

"There are things which can prevent war: for instance, the worsening of the [U.S.] economic situation, demonstrations all around the world, countries showing exactly how they're feeling by talking frankly -- not necessarily publicly, but behind the scenes -- to the United States to make them come to their senses," he said. "But I don't think it is up to us."

Saadi insisted his government has encouraged scientists to submit to confidential interviews with U.N. inspectors, adding it was up to the scientists themselves to make the choice.

In a wide-ranging interview with a small group of American reporters, Saadi indicated that Iraq's leadership may now have as little faith as many in the Bush administration that continued inspections could stave off war, said the Washington Post.

Saadi said even if Iraq were to force its scientists to agree to private interviews, which he called an "unreasonable demand," he predicted it would not satisfy the Bush administration.

"There will be something else," he said. "It won't end there."

Observers argue that the focus on issues such as private interviews and the permission to fly U-2 surveillance aircraft over Iraq is a ploy to divert attention from the fact that the inspectors have not yet found any evidence that Iraq possesses or is developing weapons of mass destruction.

The Bush Administration officials claim they have strong evidence that Iraq has active programs to manufacture chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

But Saadi dismissed those claims, noting that allegations advanced by the administration last year that Iraq was using imported aluminum tubes to enrich uranium have largely been refuted by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He dismissed as "ridiculous" suggestions that Saddam Hussein should step down or go into exile. Nobody in the Iraqi government, he said, "is serious about this."

He also repudiated U.S. allegations that Iraq is planning to set fire to its oil wells in the event of an invasion.

"It's preposterous," he said. "There are no such plans. It's our wealth. It's for the Iraqi people."