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More U.N. Staff, Gear Land in Iraq as Washington Continues to Beat the Drums of War

More U.N. Staff, Gear Land in Iraq as Washington Continues to Beat the Drums of War
HIGHLIGHTS Opposition Group Now on a Visit to Baghdad Continues Discussions With Iraqi Vice President on Reforms Including a New Constitution Allowing a Multi-Party Political System & a Free Press|| Major Opposition Groups Describe Talks as a Ploy by Saddam|| Anglo-American Jets Bomb a Mobile Radar System in Southern Iraq|| Bush Urges NATO to Defeat What He Calls " New & Terrible Dangers"-Terrorism & The Iraqi Regime||STORY: More staff and equipment landed in Baghdad Saturday as the U.N. monitoring agency prepared to resume the hunt next week for any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

A half-dozen staff members, along with communications gear and computers, flew in from a U.N. rear base in Cyprus, U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki said. Eighteen weapons inspectors are scheduled to arrive Monday.

The first inspection will probably take place Wednesday, when a U.N. team is expected to revisit one of the many sites inspected in the 1990s.

The inspectors are back in Iraq under a new Security Council resolution demanding the Iraqis give up any weapons of mass destruction or face "serious consequences."

SADDAM PLEDGES REFORM TO EXILES

President Saddam Hussein has promised opposition groups a new constitution that allows freedom of expression, pluralism and a free press, an exiled group, Iraqi National Alliance, now on a visit to Baghdad said Saturday. Other exiles dismissed the offer as a ploy to rally support before a possible U.S. attack.

Major opposition groups denounced the offer of a pardon as a ploy by Saddam. The small, little known Iraqi National Alliance is believed to be the only exile group that responded to an Oct. 22 offer to return to Iraq. The offer included a pardon for opposing to Saddam's regime.

Iyad Allawi, head of the better known opposition group Iraqi National Accord, said the alliance was not a "credible opposition" and described government offers of political freedom as attempts by Saddam to buy time in the face of a possible U.S.-led attack.

With the possibility of a regime change in Baghdad, Iraq's divided opposition groups have had trouble setting aside their differences. A meeting to discuss unifying against Saddam's government has been delayed several times and is now scheduled for Dec. 10-11 in London.

The delegates in Iraq have met several senior officials, including Izzat Ibrahim, the deputy leader of the Revolutionary Command Council, Iraq's top decision-making body. The delegation hopes to meet Saddam before leaving.

Saddam has ruled Iraq with an iron hand since he assumed control of the government in July 1979.

ANGLO-AMERICAN JETS BOMB IRAQI RADAR SYSTEM

Anglo-American planes meanwhile bombed a mobile radar system in southern Iraq on Saturday, the fourth attack by U.S. and British patrols over the past week as conflict escalates over enforcement of "no-fly" zones over the country.

The attack, in response to what the U.S. Central Command said were hostile threats against the patrols, used precision-guided weapons against radar south of Al Amarah, about 120 miles southeast of Baghdad at 6 a.m. EST. The town has been a frequent target of U.S. and British retaliatory strikes in recent weeks.

BUSH URGES NATO TO HELP DEFEAT 'NEW AND TERRIBLE DANGERS'-TERRORISM & THE IRAQI REGIME

Ending an East European tour in the Romanian capital of Bucharest on Saturday, President Bush vowed to defend hard-won freedoms behind the former Iron Curtain. He said fledgling NATO states must in turn help defeat "new and terrible dangers" - terrorism and the Iraqi regime.

Calling the Iraqi leader an "aggressive dictator," the president told thousands of Romanians in Revolution Square that by his search for terrible weapons, by his ties to terror groups, by his development of prohibited ballistic missiles, the dictator of Iraq threatens the security of every free nation, including the free nations of Europe.

Bush waged a campaign of moral persuasion throughout the trip, suggesting that newly freed nations of Eastern Europe are more willing than NATO's old guard to stand against modern-day tyranny.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, created after World War II to curb Soviet aggression in the latter half of the 20th century, voted Thursday both to invite seven more countries to join and to make sweeping reforms to confront a 21st-century scourge.

President Bush returned home on Saturday after a five-day visit to three Eastern European countries and Russia.

Bush attended the NATO summit in Prague, Czech Republic; met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg; and visited Lithuania and Romania, two of seven formerly communist East European countries that have been invited to join the NATO alliance.

PHOTO CAPTION

United Nations personnel unload equipment from a U.N. plane at Saddam International Airport in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2002. (AP Photo/Hussein

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