Iraq branded US President George W. Bush a "bad man" Tuesday and accused him of damaging international relations.

Bush was "trying to put international relations on an unhealthy basis," said a commentary from the official INA news agency in reaction to a speech from the US leader on Monday.
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INA said the remarks were "strange", adding that "Bush, the bad man, has put Iraq among the gang of outlawed countries because Baghdad refuses to accept the logic of aerial exclusion (zones) imposed by the United States and Britain which have no UN mandate."

The official commentary was echoed by Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, who charged: "The US administration is inventing pretexts to lead an assault on Iraq.

"Iraq's complete cooperation with UN disarmament inspectors is intended to refute the US and British lies about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction," INA quoted him as saying during a reception for a visiting delegation of Canadian MPs.

» Baghdad blasts "bad man" Bush