"If we have to fight, although we hate it, we will be ready to fight on all fronts," Saddam told Air Force Commander Hamid Rija Shlah and "some fighters, engineers and technicians from the Air Force leadership," the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

The air force should deny the enemy any chance to achieve its "evil intentions," Saddam added.

The Iraqi leader's remarks came as the United States is seeking to push through a new UN Security Council resolution which will "automate" the use of force in the event of Iraqi noncompliance in his disarmament.

But Iraq's armed forces said they will face up to any US attacks.

"We will teach the enemy a cruel lesson if they dare to attack Iraq and its people," Shlah told Saddam, who is also the commander-in-chief of Iraq's armed forces.

"We will continue to promote our defensive potentials and the means of fighting," INA quoted the Air Force commander as saying.

US President George W. Bush has branded Saddam's regime as part of an "axis of evil," along with Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and accused them of pursuing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism.

He has repeatedly vowed to achieve a "regime change" in Iraq with all the tools at his disposal, including full-scale military strikes.

( November 4, 2002)