Filed at 12:01 p.m. ET

BEIRUT (Reuters) - No sooner had President Bush laid out his case for war against Iraq at the United Nations than friends and foes across the Arab world contested his real motives.

Analysts, people and politicians across the Middle East accused Bush of laying out a harsh indictment of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but failing to present the world with hard evidence to support his argument against Iraq.

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz rejected on Friday the unconditional return of U.N. arms inspectors as demanded by Bush in his speech to the United Nations on Thursday, saying the move would not avert U.S. military designs on Baghdad.

``We do not accept President Bush's conditions,'' Aziz told Arab satellite station MBC in an interview to be broadcast at 1500 GMT. The footage was seen in advance by Reuters.

``The return of inspectors without conditions will not solve the problem...because we have had a bad experience with them. Is it clever to repeat an experience that failed and did not prevent aggression?,'' he said.

The White House said Aziz's rejection meant that Iraq had ``something to hide.''

Bush, who has condemned Iraq as a member of an ``axis of evil'' and has declared his intention to oust Saddam, urged the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday to force Iraq to disarm and said action was inevitable if it failed to do so.

He said Saddam had engaged in a ``decade of defiance'' of post-Gulf War demands from the U.N. by developing weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq called Bush's speech a litany of lies motivated by ``revenge, oil, personal ambitions and the security of Israel.''

ARABS SAY U.S. ATTACK PREMEDITATED This view was repeated by people and commentators in the Middle East.

``America's attack on Iraq is premeditated. This (speech) is a ruse and an attempt to gain time in order to prepare for an attack under the U.N. umbrella,'' Syrian political analyst Imad Shueibi told Reuters.

Syria, which is also on a U.S. list of countries backing ``terrorism,'' blasted Bush for targeting Iraq and ignoring Israel's aggression and occupation of Arab lands.

``The American speech to the world's body focused on one and only one issue...It forgot the fundamental issue in our region, which is the continued Israeli aggression caused by Israel's occupation of Arab land,'' said the official al-Ba'ath daily.

Many Arabs echoed the fury out of Baghdad, accusing the United States of bias toward Israel while many said Washington's position has not changed and military action was unavoidable.

``The speech of the U.S. president...is a step toward a new Security Council resolution that opens the door for American military action,'' Jordan's Ad-Dustour newspaper said.

The Jordan Times said Bush failed ``yet again'' to show solid evidence against Iraq but it that the ball was now in Baghdad's court to avert war and allow the return of U.N. arms inspectors.

``That Bush wants a war, it has long been clear. It is not too late to deny him the chance to get it,'' it said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was among the few who had hoped that diplomacy still had a chance. He welcomed the role that the United States had assigned to the United Nations.

ARABS CITE U.S. BIAS

Many ordinary Arabs believe Bush's resolve to remove Saddam for allegedly acquiring banned weapons was proof of his double standards.

``There is all this talk about weapons of mass destruction, but Israel also has such weapons, and many countries are trying to develop such weapons,'' said Mona, an Egyptian technical data librarian, aged 40.

Shueibi ridiculed Bush's allegations that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda members, behind the attacks on U.S. cities in which more than 3,000 people died, were hiding in Iraq. He said al Qaeda has become ``a convenient label for the U.S.'' to attach to countries that refuse to go along with its policies.

``Bush does not have any credibility in the region at all. They all regard him as a foolish person who knows nothing about politics,'' said Shueibi.