Flight deck crew on the USS Constellation prepare two FA-18 Hornets for launch

WASHINGTON, November 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States pursued its military buildup in the Gulf region Saturday, November 2, as the United Nations edged towards agreement on an Iraq resolution.

The aircraft carrier USS Constellation will leave its home base of San Diego, California, Saturday at the head of a six ship carrier group, U.S. Navy spokesman Ensign Mike Morley said.

The departure of the Constellation - with its 75 planes and 5,500 sailors, marines and pilots - on a six-month mission was brought forward from early 2003, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group is already in the Gulf and Morley said "there will a period where both of them are deployed simultaneously".

Another U.S. carrier group is in the Mediterranean.

Alongside U.S. efforts to secure United Nations action to disarm Iraq, President George W. Bush has emphasized that he is ready to lead a coalition against Iraq.

The military said this week that B-2 Stealth jets would be sent to bases in Britain and the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, putting them closer to Iraq.

And the U.S. Navy also said Friday, October 31, that it is looking for commercial shipping to take ammunition and vehicles to the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea amid a repositioning of U.S. forces.

The navy has awarded a stream of contracts to take armor, ammunition and other military equipment to the region ahead of any military intervention in Iraq.

U.S. Defense Department officials said they expected the contracts to be completed in time for delivery of the equipment in late November or early December.

In Baghdad, the Iraqi military said ground defense forces opened fire Friday on U.S. and British warplanes as they flew over the south of the country.

U.S. and British aircraft have stepped up raids in the so-called no-fly zones (not supported by any UN resolutions) in southern and northern Iraq in recent weeks.

Amid signs that an agreement between U.N. Security Council members on an accord against Iraq is near, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell stepped up lobbying efforts to get a strongly worded motion.

U.S. officials said they expect a vote on Iraq by the end of next week and Russia said the Security Council was nearing agreement on the terms for resuming weapons inspections in Iraq, but that "serious" disagreement remained over the U.S. threat of force.

In Moscow, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Friday "we have come close on a whole range of issues."

"We are trying to reach a resolution that, in case there is a problem with the work of inspectors, in case Iraq breaches (the inspections program) ... that this question is returned to the Security Council" so it can debate the use of force, he said.

"And only the Security Council, after carefully examining this question, can make a decision," he said, while acknowledging that U.N. statutes allow the use of force.

However, Ivanov also said that some "serious differences" over the proposed U.N. resolution remain.

Powell spoke with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, whose country also opposes the immediate threat of military force, and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of Britain, which backs the U.S. campaign for a hard-line warning to Iraq.

Britain and France and Russia among the five permanent members of the Security Council, along with the United States and China.

But Powell also spoke by telephone with Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castenada, one of 10 non-permanent members of the council, and Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

Mexico has sided with Russia and France, while Saudi Arabia occupies a key political and military position in the region.

Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, again met Security Council members on Friday.

U.N. inspectors will go to Cyprus this weekend to set up a staging post for their operations in Iraq, a U.N. source said Friday.

The base, where inspectors can group to receive instructions and U.N. identity cards before flying to Iraq, will be in the southern port of Larnaca.

Blix has said an advance team could arrive in Baghdad between seven and 10 days after a resolution is adopted.

Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, said they will meet in Brussels from November 22 to November 25 in a bid to formulate a common vision of Iraq's future.

Representatives of the whole spectrum of the Iraqi opposition, academics, tribal figures and others have been invited to attend the gathering, totaling around 200, said Hamed al-Bayati, London representative of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Invitations will also be sent to the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, a number of European countries and Iraq's neighbors -- Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran -- in addition to Egypt. 

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