Western Media Promoted Nonsense to Justify US Invasion of Iraq - Russian Coop Agency Chief Primakov

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Western media prepared the ground to justify the US-led international intervention in Iraq under the pretext of search for weapons of mass destruction and terrorist links of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the head of Russia's foreign cooperation agency (Rossotrudnichestvo), Yevgeny Primakov, told Sputnik on Sunday.

"The Western media had an exclusively service function. They exclusively reported about weapons of mass destruction hidden in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein's connections with al-Qaeda*, which was absolute nonsense. There is no need to idealise Saddam Hussein, he was not a lamb, but he had very bad relations with al-Qaeda*", Primakov said.

The war in Iraq violated international law and was launched outside the sphere of responsibility of the UN Security Council and without Security Council resolutions, Primakov noted.

The US invaded Iraq in 2003 on the pretext of looking for weapons of mass destruction, which were never found. The military operation resulted in the capture and trial of Saddam Hussein. The former Iraqi leader was executed for crimes against humanity on 30 December 2006.

*Al-Qaeda - a terrorist group banned in many countries