U.N. arms inspectors searching for banned weapons in Iraq began the new year Wednesday with visits to a truck repair shop in the capital and a missile maintenance facility north of the city. The Al-Harith missile facility does maintenance work on SA-2, SA-3 and SA-6 anti-aircraft missile systems and has been visited before by inspectors, who returned to Iraq on Nov. 27 after a four-year hiatus.

Inspectors also made their first visit to al-Magd company, which repairs heavy trucks.

The inspectors did not reveal any details about the visits.

So far, U.N. arms inspectors have not encountered any known serious problems in gaining access to sites. Still, many in Iraq suspect war is imminent and the Bush administration repeatedly has asserted that President Saddam Hussein  is withholding information about his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

A front-page editorial in Iraq's official al-Jumhuriya newspaper Wednesday contained what has by now become the usual dose of fiery rhetoric, urging citizens to oppose what it called the "American aggressive threats" against their country.

"They (Iraqis) are full with the certain hope of defeating any unjust aggression that might be launched by the bullies of the U.S. administration against our country," the paper said.

Speaking Tuesday at his Texas ranch, President Bush  warned that, although his administration had not decided whether to wage war against Iraq, Saddam may be headed toward conflict with the United States.

He also suggested that the economic cost of going to war to eliminate Saddam's weapons of mass destruction is better than risking an attack from them.

"Any attack of Saddam Hussein or a surrogate of Saddam Hussein would cripple our economy," Bush said. "This economy cannot afford to stand an attack."

Bush also repeated criticism of Iraq's first attempt to comply with the latest U.N. arms resolution - a declaration of the status of his weapons program - saying it was "disappointing." U.N. and U.S. officials have said that the 12,000-page report submitted last month largely rehashed earlier declarations and left questions unanswered.

"Thus far, it appears at first look that Saddam Hussein has not heard the message," Bush said.

Iraq could avoid a possible U.S. military strike and eventually see the lifting of economic sanctions imposed following its invasion of neighboring Kuwait in 1990 if it can convince U.N. inspectors it has no such weapons or the capability to manufacture them.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan  said in a radio interview Tuesday that he did not yet see any justification for a military strike against Iraq since Baghdad had not hampered the inspectors' work. The United States should wait for a report from the inspectors before launching any offensive, he added.

"Obviously they are carrying out their work and in the meantime Iraq is cooperating and they are able to do their work in an unimpeded manner," Annan told Israel's Army radio.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak , whose 21 years in office have earned him something of a status as a regional wise man, renewed his call on Iraq to do everything it can to avoid war.

In an interview published Wednesday in Cairo's daily Al-Ahram, Mubarak said Iraq must give "full cooperation with the international (weapons) inspectors and should prove that it really does not possess any weapons of mass destruction."

PHOTO CAPTION

Two U.N. cars enter the al-Magd company storehouse area in Baghdad Wednesday Jan. 1, 2003 as part of their daily mission to search for banned weapons in Iraq. The inspectors, visited the company which carries out repair work on heavy trucks, as they continued in their work in the first day of the new year. (AP Photo/Jassim Mohamme