TRIPOLI -- Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi said on Saturday a war on Iraq would throw the oil-rich Persian Gulf region into chaos and give credence to Osama bin Laden's claim that Muslims were threatened by the West.

"If Iraq is attacked that means the whole Islamic world is threatened. A war on Iraq would usher in a recolonization of the Islamic world, one state after another," he said.

Qadhafi, whose country is on a U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism, made the remarks during a speech broadcast on television to mark the 33rd anniversary on Sunday of his seizure of power in a coup, Reuters reported.

U.S. President George W. Bush has threatened to use military action against Iraq, accusing President Saddam Hussein of seeking weapons of mass destruction and sponsoring terrorism.

"We warn them that if Iraq was attacked this would prompt chaos and ruin in the region. If the Iraqi regime collapses Iraq would become a second Somalia," Qadhafi said.

"If Iraq is stricken and the regime falls that would give proof to Bin Laden who says the Islamic world is threatened by the west," he added.

Qadhafi has repeatedly said Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda guerrilla network members are terrorists, crazy and mad.

This year the U.S. has added to a watchlist of violent Islamic groups Libya's radical Islamist movement Al-Jama'a Al-Islamiyah Al-Muquatilah bi-Libya, which sees Qadhafi's government as UN-Islamic and has ties to Al-Qaeda.

Al-Jama'a had claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt against Qadhafi in 1996.