HIGLIGHTS Bush Claims His War Against Iraq is One of Liberation and Not Conquest|| Anglo-American Jets Raid Southern Iraq|| Baghdad Accuses Washington of Training Mercenaries to Destabilize Country|| STORYU.N. arms inspectors set up a new base in northern Iraq on Saturday to speed up the hunt for alleged banned weapons as more U.S. and British troops prepared to join troops already massed in the Gulf.

A team of inspectors traveled to the city of Mosul, 230 miles north of Baghdad, to set up a regional office from where they would launch inspections in northern Iraq.

"This will help us expand and accelerate our inspections throughout the country, but particularly in the north," U.N. inspectors' spokesman Hiro Ueki told reporters.

U.N. inspectors must report their findings to the Security Council by January 27. Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix will make an interim report to the U.N. Security Council Thursday.

Inspection teams visited at least six sites on Saturday, including a brewery that produces the spirit 'arak'. After six weeks of searches, the experts have yet to disclose any evidence of banned weapons programs.

In a surge of military preparation after the New Year, Washington has ordered Marines and 11,000 infantry to the region, while a British newspaper said Britain would send more than 20,000 troops and mobilize 7,000 reservists next week.

Liberation Or Conquest?

President Bush, addressing thousands of cheering soldiers in his home state of Texas on Friday, said a war against Iraq would be one of liberation, not conquest.

"Should Saddam seal his fate by refusing to disarm, by ignoring the opinion of the world, you'll be fighting not to conquer anybody but to liberate people," he told the troops.

Warplanes taking part in U.S.-British patrols over southern Iraq dropped nearly a quarter of a million leaflets over southern Iraq on Saturday urging Iraqis to listen to radio broadcasts slamming Saddam, the U.S. military said.

Anglo American Jets Raid Southern Iraq

The U.S. military said aircraft taking part in U.S.-British patrols over southern Iraq also attacked three Iraqi military communication sites on Saturday.

In a another statement, the Florida-based U.S. Central Command said allied aircraft used precision-guided weapons to strike three Iraqi communication sites near An Nasiriyah, about 170 miles southeast of Baghdad, "in response to Iraqi hostile acts." It did not specify the hostile acts.

Earlier, Iraq's armed forces said U.S. and British warplanes hit civilian targets on Friday in a "no-fly zone" in southern Iraq, but the U.S. Central Command said it had no information on such a strike. The U.S. military has said allied aircraft hit military targets in Iraq on Wednesday and Thursday.

Baghdad Accuses Washington of Training Mercenaries to Destabilize Country

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri on Saturday accused the United States of trying to destabilize Iraq by supporting Iraqi exiles whom he described as "mercenaries and terrorists."

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Sabri said U.S. plans to train exiled Iraqis to take part in a post-Saddam Hussein administration broke international laws.

"Bush's administration is supporting mercenaries and terrorists to destabilize the political situation and the social security in Iraq," said the letter published in Baghdad newspapers.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.N. weapons inspectors arrive at the Nineveh Palace Hotel in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, some 450 km north of Baghdad, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2003. The inspectors are to establish a new office in Mosul and broaden the range of weapons inspections. (AP Photo/Ali Haider