The parliament also lashed out at the two governments for backing US and British air strikes against Iraq in December, the biggest offensive since the 1991 gulf war.

``The governments of America and Britain and the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are responsible for the aggression and the human and material losses caused by it,'' it said.

The statement shrugged off demands by some MPs to revoke Iraq's 1994 recognition of Kuwait and the demarcation of the border between the two states.

The deputies called on Arab states to unilaterally lift UN sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. They also called for compensation for damage inflicted on Iraq since the gulf war.

AFP

reports that Iraq wished to set up a dialogue with fellow Arab statesdespite its failure to secure Arab league condemnation of the air strikes, vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan said.

Ramadan, in an interview with Iraqi satellite TV yesterday said Iraq would ``pursue dialogue with all Arab governments which want it, despite the positions adopted by certain treacherous regimes.''

Iraq stormed out of an Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo on Sunday in protest at their failure to condemn the Desert Fox air war or to support Bangladesh's call for a unilateral lifting of UN sanctions.

``Despite the resolutions of the Cairo meeting, Iraq remains committed to dialogue and is ready to sign and respect any formula which could restore calm and stability for the Arabs,'' Ramadan said.

He charged that the meeting was orchestrated, by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, ``to break the isolation of the United States after its latest aggression and give it a green light to carry out more aggression.'' Iraq was `not surprised' by the outcome, given that both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia werelaunchpads for US attacks on Iraq he said.