Iraq says it hasn't made weapons of mass destruction since 1991

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq has not made or possessed weapons of mass destruction since 1991, despite U.S. claims to the contrary, according to a Foreign Ministry statement issued Sunday.

"Iraq has said on many occasions that it is not concerned with entering the mass destruction weapons club. ... We left it in 1991," said the statement.

The statement came as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld addressed about 1,000 U.S. servicemen in neighboring Kuwait, the country Iraq invaded in 1990 and occupied until U.S.-led coalition routed its forces in the 1991 Gulf War.

"You are the people who stand between freedom and fear, between our people and a dangerous adversary that cannot be appeased, cannot be ignored and cannot be allowed to win," Rumsfeld said.

Washington accuses Baghdad of developing weapons of mass destruction and maintaining ballistic missile facilities. It also says Iraq is preventing U.N. weapons inspectors from entering the country to verify the dismantling of the weapons, a precondition for the lifting of U.N. sanctions imposed in 1990.

U.N. inspectors left Iraq ahead of U.S. and British strikes in 1998 and have been barred from returning.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Sunday said such views were part of a U.S. campaign "of accusations and claims ... that are no more than lies." America has "provided no evidence for these claims," the statement said.

The statement said Iraq has fulfilled "its commitments under (U.N.) Security Council resolutions, including those related to weapons."

U.N. officials expressed hope Thursday that upcoming talks in Vienna on July 4-5 with Iraq will lead to the return of weapons inspectors.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri have had two rounds of talks since March that focused on the goal of getting U.N. inspectors back into Iraq. Both meetings, however, have been inconclusive.