Saddam launches UK charm offensive

Saddam says Iraqis do not understand why Britain has turned against them

LONDON, England -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has launched a UK charm offensive aimed at the country's burgeoning anti-war movement.

Hussein expressed his fondness for everything quintessentially British, from Sir Winston Churchill and red double-decker buses to Quality Street chocolate sweets, according to an MP who has just returned from Iraq.

The Iraqi leader's comments were made via Labour MP George Galloway, who was interviewed by the Mail on Sunday newspaper after his visit to Iraq.

Galloway met Hussein at a secret underground bunker near Baghdad where the Iraqi leader told Galloway "he would implement all U.N. resolutions on Iraq and admit weapons inspectors without hindrance," the paper said.

Hussein said that ordinary Iraqis still did not understand why Britain -- a country they had long admired -- had turned against them.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Iraq shows CNN a factory suspected of producing deadly biological substances (August 12) Play video

"Even at the height of our strategic relationship with the Soviet Union, Britain was the Iraqis' first choice. Whether for holidays -- one million big spending Iraqis a year used to travel to London -- or 'Made in Britain' goods," he said.

"Our measurements, our scientific standards, our punctual red double-decker buses, even our electric plugs were all based on the British. We don't know why you turned against us more than any other European country."

His comments came as a poll for the London-based Daily Telegraph newspaper found that only 19 percent believed that Britain should join any U.S. military action against Iraq.

Thirty-two percent said Britain should support the U.S. diplomatically but not militarily, 29 percent said Britain just distance itself from the U.S. and 17 percent said London should publicly condemn Washington.

The poll, published on Monday, questioned 2,147 adults online between August 8 and 11. The sample was weighted to conform with the demographic profile of British adults as a whole.

Hussein apparently began the Galloway meeting by offering him a large tin of Quality Street, saying: "Choose your personal favourite."

He also quoted former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, with a fierce warning of the consequences for Britain and the U.S. if they were to mount an invasion to topple him from power.

"We will fight them on the streets, from the rooftops, from house to house. We will never surrender," he said.

"That is what Churchill promised the invaders threatening England. And that is what we can promise the crusaders if they come here."

Galloway, who has described Iraq as a "broken-backed Third World country," said: "I believe the anti-war movement is growing in Britain and the message I am bringing back from Saddam will encourage them.

"Saddam clearly understood that Iraq has to be seen to go the extra diplomatic mile and he promised to do so."

Meanwhile, former British Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson has said that Prime Minister Tony Blair would not commit British forces to a conflict with Iraq unless he was convinced it was the "best option available."

In an interview with The Times, on Monday, Mandelson said Blair would also want to fully prepare public opinion before joining any U.S.-led military action.

"While the prime minister will not want to weaken in any sense on the stance he has taken, naturally he will not commit Britain to engaging in military action unless and until it is clear that that is the best option available and political and public opinion has been prepared to support it," he said.