U.S., U.M. CAN'T IGNORE THE AUDACITY OF SADDAM

It was just more than a year ago that America celebrated the liberation of Kuwait and an allied victory over Iraq. In contrast with the elation of that time is a dismal current reality produced by the persistent annoyance of Saddam Hussein. While his forces were devastated and driven from land they lawlessly annexed, Saddam remains at the helm of a renegade nation that poses a threat to global peace. Nations of the world must continue to apply pressure on this tyrant.

Once you've been labeled the "butcher of Baghdad," the term "liar" holds little punitive power. Saddam has placed obstacles in the way of United Nations efforts toward peace accord enforcement and otherwise reneged on his pledge of cooperation in terms of dismantling Iraq's weapons systems. The last 12 months have been an exercise in frustration for those trying to follow the U.N. mandate, with each Saddam concession being hard-won and accompanied by Iraqi whining about their global isolation. Saddam remains a man for whom lessons are learned only if they adhere to his personal agenda.

That agenda apparently has as its sole purpose to be a burr under the saddle of the world community. His latest agreement should not be taken bald-faced as a measure of atonement; Saddam allowed a U.N. team to visit a weapons factory near Baghdad Sunday, complying with an edict to verify the destruction of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Of course, such inspections were fundamental to the agreement that caused allied forces to stop shooting at the Iraqis last year, and Saddam's slow-play tactics can be read as nothing other than stalling for his own nation's gain.

When Tariq Aziz, Iraq's deputy prime minister, appeared before an impatient United Nations Security Council earlier this month, promising compliance but seeking more time, his actions were no doubt carefully measured. If it is Iraq's intention to comply with the U.N. resolution, why has progress in this endeavor been halting? Why didn't Iraq throw the doors open months ago instead of hampering inspectors? Because Saddam assigns some benefit to each delay. Since Iraq continues to suffer from an economic embargo imposed by the Security Council in August 1990, the only conceivable advantage within Saddam's grasp is rebuilding his military.

At this time, with the eyes of the world still on him, Saddam poses the threat of a bee at a picnic annoying but not ominous. The trick is to assure his compliance comes to pass, to decline compromise on the principles of the U.N. mandate. The world sleeps less well with Saddam Hussein still in power. Our eyes must not leave his demented reign.