WASHINGTON -- Former AOL Time Warner vice-chairman Ted Turner, once known as the Mouth of the South, unleashed his famous tongue again yesterday, criticizing the growing likelihood of a U.S. attack on Baghdad and suggesting that military action is a ridiculous way to bring down Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"We got all the bombs and they don't have very much but a few guns. It's the high-tech wealthy Western nation against the Third World country; it's kind of a foregone conclusion that we'll win. It's a question of how many civilians get killed over there -- that's what worries me," Mr. Turner said. "We're trying to get one man, right? And we're going to kill tens of thousands of people to get him. It seems like a pretty inefficient way to do things."

Mr. Turner compared the heavy-handed approach to dropping a nuclear bomb on Washington in an effort to neutralize the two snipers who terrorized the U.S. capital region last fall.

He made his comments during an interview to promote Gods and Generals, a rambling and often incoherent 229-minute U.S. Civil War drama that is sympathetic to the pro-secession rebellion and makes heroes out of Confederate leaders General Robert E. Lee and Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson.

Mr. Turner, who has a one-line cameo role in the film as a Confederate colonel, personally put up the entire $90-million (U.S.) production and distribution budget after AOL Time Warner declined its option to make the movie. The film's 1993 predecessor Gettysburg was a financial flop, taking in just $10-million at the box office on a budget of $25-million.

"When I greenlit this film three years ago, it represented 1 per cent of my net worth," Mr. Turner said in the interview. "Now it's more like 15 per cent of my net worth. That's how much of my other assets I've lost." The share price of AOL Time Warner has fallen from a high of $55 shortly after the two companies merged in January, 2001, to Friday's close of $10.64.

Mr. Turner has been uncharacteristically quiet since the merger, which he opposed. Two weeks ago, he announced his intention to step down as vice-chairman in May, leading to rampant speculation about his next move.

The tycoon denied rumours that he plans to buy back CNN and reinstate the network's original core values, in which showmanship took a back seat to journalism.

"Connie Chung's just awful," he said, referring to the high-priced star CNN hired last spring. "I'd love to get [the network] back. I just don't see how I can make it happen."

AOL Time Warner executives have insisted that CNN, which lost its No. 1 cable news ranking last year to the upstart Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel, is one of the company's crown jewels and is not for sale.

Mr. Turner said that in addition to his chain of six bison-meat restaurants he opened last year, he will work to restore the value of AOL Time Warner shares, and would not let his loss of power stand in his way.

"I didn't have any power before, so I have no less power than I had before. But now, I have the power of the tongue. I can speak."