They did not know of our great tragedy.”He added: “The voil?oment came when we saw that the population understood why coalition forces were fighting the Taliban and al-Qa’ida. In Iraq it will be when we see a break with the leadership.”. Saddam Hussein has indicated that he does not intend to follow UN orders to destroy his Al-Samoud 2 missiles, and challenged President George Bush to an internationally televised debate via satellite linkup. I will say what I want and he will say what he wants.”CBS said it planned to broadcast excerpts of the interview with Dan Rather, the CBS anchor, today and the entire interview on tomorrow.Referring to chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix’s order that Iraq destroy its Al-Samoud 2 missiles, CBS quoted Saddam as saying: “Iraq is allowed to prepare proper missiles and we are committed to that.”Asked whether the Al-Samoud 2 missiles are “proper,” Saddam replied: “We do not have missiles that go beyond the proscribed range.The order was issued after international experts determined that the missile flew further than the 93-mile limit set down by the United Nations in 1991. Iraq maintains some of the missiles overshot the limit because they were tested without warheads and guidance systems.”This is not a serious issue,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said of the reported debate offer.

“There is no debating his need to disarm.”Mr Fleischer said Saddam’s comments about the Al-Samouds represented “open defiance” of the United Nations. “He refuses even to acknowledge that the weapons are prohibited,” he said.Iraq has until the end of the week to begin destroying the missiles, components and other related systems.Meanwhile in Kuwait, a US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a night training mission, killing all four crew members.The crash occurred about 1am (2200 GMT Monday) near the military’s Camp New Jersey about 30 miles north-west of Kuwait City, an Army statement said.The aircraft, which belonged to the Army’s V Corps, was part of the force that has been massed in this Gulf emirate for a possible invasion of Iraq.The crew members were the only personnel on board, the Army said.. Shares in Macdonald Hotels slumped sharply yesterday after the Scotland-based operator joined the chorus of hoteliers warning that trading conditions had deteriorated. It warned it expected to “report lower profits” in the first half of its financial year, despite an “encouraging start”.

Its shares fell 9 per cent to 181.5p.Companies and holiday makers are becoming more reluctant to book in advance, with visibility down to just a few days in some cases, a spokeswoman for Macdonald said. This compared with booking visibility of as much as two months, a year earlier, she added.Frank O’Callaghan, the chairman, said he remained “confident” about the company’s prospects for the second half. “This company has always traded well through difficult times and I am sure that it will do so again,” he added.Earlier this month, De Vere Group said that a fall-off in demand for mid-week conferences had marred an otherwise “pleasing” start to its financial year.Peter Joseph, an analyst at KBC Peel Hunt, said he would slash his current full-year profit forecasts of £21.8m by “a couple of million” to just below £20m. Although Mr Joseph said he expected to see weak trading information from the hotel groups set to report over the next 10 days, Macdonald Hotels “still has a good long-term outlook”.Analysts said the group’s high-quality estate, experienced management team and good track record in previous downturns meant it should weather the next few months better than some of its rivals..

Daniel Levy, the chairman of the Premiership football club Tottenham Hotspur, is hatching a plan to take Enic, the company that controls the club, private. Enic shares leapt 38 per cent, from 25p to 34.p, on news of the approach.The early morning statement to the Stock Exchange did not identify the potential buyer but market sources said that Mr Levy, together with Charlie Lewis, the son of the Bahamas-based financier Joe Lewis, was hoping to launch a £35m to £40m takeover to take Enic private.The two men are convinced that Enic’s true value is more than that given to it by the stock market.In recent years, the City, frustrated by the huge salaries paid to footballers and the paltry profits made by clubs, has fallen out of love with investing in football clubs. Shares in most clubs are well below the prices at which they were first floated on the stock market.City sources suggested yesterday that any bid for Enic might be pitched at around 35p a share. This would value the company, which has shareholdings in several football clubs in Europe as well as Tottenham, at around £35m.Apart from a 29.9 per cent shareholding in Tottenham, Enic also has a 20 per cent stake in Glasgow Rangers as well as shareholdings in AEK Athens, Slavia Prague and the Italian club Vicenza. The former Spurs chairman Alan Sugar sold a large portion of his 42 per cent shareholding in Tottenham Hotspur to Enic two years ago in a deal that left him with a 13 per cent shareholding in Spurs, making him one of the football group’s largest shareholders.