Saddam knows an invasion is near but remains calm and believes he can beat the U.S., said Rather

WASHINGTON, February 26 (News Agencies) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told a U.S. television reporter that has no intention either of going into exile or of setting fire to Iraqi oil fields in case of a U.S.-led military invasion.

"I was born here in Iraq... Whoever decides to forsake his nation from whoever requests is not true to the principles. We will die here," Saddam told CBS news anchorman Dan Rather.

The exclusive interview, taped in Baghdad Monday, February 24, was to be fully aired on CBS's '60 Minutes II' news show late Wednesday, February 26, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Asked if, should there be an invasion, he would set fire to Iraq's oil fields and blow up its dams, Saddam replied: "Iraq does not burn its wealth and it does not destroy its dams."

"We hope, however, that this question is not meant as an insinuation, so that the Iraqi dams and the Iraqi oil wells will be destroyed by those who will invade Iraq in their possible invasion of the country," he cautioned.

In 1991, just before the Iraqi invaders were driven out of Kuwait by coalition forces, fleeing Iraqi troops and technicians systematically dynamited most of Kuwait's oil wells, leaving a blazing inferno and an environmental nightmare that took years to fix.

During the interview, Saddam said he had no plans to leave Iraq, despite statements by top U.S. officials that that could help avoid war.

"I am proud to have been born fearing God and I have taught my children the value of history and the value of human standards," he said.

"We will die in this country and we will maintain our honor -- the honor that is required in front of our people. I believe that whoever offers Saddam asylum in his own country is in fact a person without morals," the Iraqi leader added.

He also denied his country had any link with al-Qaeda, the terror network blamed by the United States for the September 11, 2001 deadly attacks in New York and Washington.

Iraq "never had any relationship" with al-Qaeda, Saddam said. The CBS anchor said he was unsure the interview would go ahead until just before his encounter Monday with the Iraqi leader.

Asked point blank if he intended to destroy Al-Samoud 2 missiles as called for by the chief U.N. arms inspector for Iraq, Hans Blix, Saddam said: "Our commitment is to abide, to comply with the 1441 resolution and to apply it. As you know Iraq is allowed to manufacture land to land rockets as per the resolution of the United Nations."

Pressed on what that meant, and whether Baghdad would destroy them, Saddam stressed: "We have no missiles outside the specifications of the United Nations, and the inspection teams are here and they are looking."

Blix has given Iraq until Saturday to begin destroying the missiles, which can carry a warhead of 300 kilograms (660 pounds), as well as component parts.

"The missiles that you are talking about, the missiles that are against the resolutions, these do not exist and they have been destroyed," the Iraqi president said. "Iraq has none of what has been said at the higher political levels," he insisted.

Saddam also challenged U.S. President George W. Bush to a live satellite debate on the need for war.

"I am ready to dialogue with Mr. Bush, the president of the United States," he told Rather, a notion the White House has already rejected.

"All I am asking is to appear before the American people and other people in direct discussion. This is an opportunity for him if he is really convinced about his position about preparations for war ... and it's an opportunity for us to tell the world about our reason to want to live in peace."

CBS plans to show excerpts of the interview early Tuesday were scrapped as Iraqi authorities held up broadcast of the tapes as they were being translated.

CBS later said the tapes, made by Iraqi television, had been delivered apparently unedited.

The interview is a scoop for 71-year-old Rather, frontman for CBS News for 22 years and the first U.S. journalist to meet Saddam in a decade.

Saddam knows an invasion is near but remains calm and believes he can beat the United States, said Rather.