Edition: U.S. / Global  THREATS AND RESPONSES: BAGHDAD; Iraq Has
No Banned Arms, Hussein Says in Interview  Published: February
5, 2003  In a rare televised interview that was broadcast here
tonight, Saddam Hussein denied that Iraq possessed any weapons
of mass destruction or had any links to the terror network Al
Qaeda.  ''If we had a relationship with Al Qaeda, and we
believed in that relationship, we wouldn't be ashamed to admit
it,'' Mr. Hussein told the interviewer, Tony Benn, a retired
left-wing member of the House of Commons who said he went to
Baghdad to interview Mr. Hussein in a last-ditch effort to
prevent an American-led invasion of Iraq.  The Iraqi leader
insisted that he still held out hope for peace, and accused the
United States of hunting for a ''pretext for aggression'' that
would justify an invasion of Iraq to meet its goals of
controlling the world's oil supply and, ultimately, controlling
the world.  Excerpts from the one-hour interview with Mr.
Hussein were televised here tonight on Chan