BAGHDAD Iraq AP Iraq on Monday denied it tried to buy prohibited missile technology in Romania but admitted sending a team there to settle ``outstanding matters'' relating to an old contract. The team also was interested in ``some forging and precision-casting technologies'' for short-range missiles that Iraq is allowed to produce under U.N. Security Council resolutions Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi a top adviser to President Saddam Hussein told reporters. He was commenting on a report Monday by the Cable News Network that Iraqi missile experts escorted by Iraqi secret police went to Bucharest to negotiate the purchase of guidance equipment for banned long-range missiles. The report is ``regrettably tendentious baseless and full of distortions as part of the hostile media campaign against Iraq'' al-Saadi said. Iraq has over the years claimed that is has ended all programs to build mass destruction weapons as required by Security Council resolutions adopted after the 1991 Gulf War which ended Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. However the Iraqi claims are disputed by the U.N. Special Commission which is responsible for dismantling its chemical and biological weapons and missiles with a range more than 150 kilometers 93 miles. Until UNSCOM gives Iraq a clean bill of health the Security Council will not lift U.N. economic sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Al-Saadi said an Iraqi team did travel to Romania in May this year ``but not for the purpose of obtaining prohibited material or technology.'' ``The purpose was to settle outstanding matters regarding a contract made in 1995 for materials which was known to UNSCOM and were subjected to ongoing monitoring by them'' he said. Al-Saadi is widely believed to be the mastermind of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program. According to CNN the Iraqi purchase in Bucharest was blocked because spy agencies from the United States and two other countries which were not identified uncovered the potential deal and monitored the Iraqis' two-week visit. CNN on Tuesday stood by its report which had quoted unnamed sources and Scott Ritter an American ex-Marine who resigned as an UNSCOM member in August after complaining that the U.S. government was not being tough enough with Iraq. Al-Saadi said UNSCOM was fully aware at the time that Iraq had a legal project to develop short-range missiles and that UNSCOM has constantly monitored and witnessed static and flight tests. ``Scott Ritter ... is now trying to portray himself as a Rambo style hero for personal reasons and to serve Israeli objectives'' al-Saadi said. Also Tuesday the spokeswoman for the U.N. weapons inspectors said the United Nations has brought its complement of 120 weapons inspectors in Iraq up to full strength. The inspectors returned to Baghdad last month after a brief pull-out following Iraq's refusal to allow them to work. Iraq relented on Nov. 14 only hours before U.S. military strikes were to be launched. APW19981201.0341.txt.body.html APW19981201.1009.txt.body.html