Mubarak: Invasion of Iraq Could Lead to Civil War, Partition
"An invasion and occupation of Iraq could lead to a violent civil war ... from the north to the south and through the center, because of the ethnic and religious diversity of this country," made up of Shia and Sunni Muslim Arabs, Sunni Muslim Kurds and Turkmens, Christians and other minorities.
"It could lead to the partition of Iraq ... and to a state a chaos and instability on a regional scale," he added.
"A strike on Iraq would also have consequences on many neighboring countries" and would be "in nobody's interests. That's why I repeat my warning," he said.
MENA said Mubarak made his remarks in in an interview with the **Armed Forces** magazine to mark the 29th anniversary of the October 1973 War with Israel, to be celebrated Sunday.
Mubarak argued that the crisis with Iraq was about arms inspections and not bringing down President Saddam Hussein.
"No country has the right to get involved with toppling the regime of a sovereign country; It's the right of the Iraqi people alone, AFP quoted Egyption news agency MENA as saying.
"I believe most of the countries in the world agree with us, and also some forces in the United States.
"I hope there will be no war, and I have trust in the ability of President George W. Bush to assess objectively the situation and understand the dangers," he said. He said striking Iraq "while keeping silent on what is happening in the Palestinian territories ... would trigger (Arab) popular anger and make international law lose all credibility."
Mubarak last week said he had played a role in convincing Iraq to let the UN weapons inspectors back in after a four-year break, and urged Baghdad to implement international resolutions on disarmament in order to deprive Washington of the pretext for an attack.