After watching Army helicopters drop troops, US President George Bush answered a soldier's shout of "Let's get Saddam!" with a promise to defeat the "mounting danger of terrorist regimes.”
"We will use diplomacy when possible and force when necessary," Bush told Friday thousands of flag-waving members of the storied 10th Mountain Division, many of whom served in Afghanistan.
Bush did not mention Saddam Hussein or Iraq, but his audience read between the lines. "Some parts of the world, there will be no substitute for direct action by the United States. That is when we will send you, our military, to win the battles that only you can win," the president said.
He urged Democrats in the Senate to swiftly pass a huge boost in Pentagon spending already approved by the Republican-led House. In March of this year, I asked Congress to put defense appropriations at the beginning of the legislative line, not the end. I asked them to stop playing that old trick, "we'll hold defense last."
"These tyrants and terrorists have one thing in common - whatever their plans and schemes, they will not be restrained by a hint of humanity or conscience," Bush said. "The enemies of America no longer need great armies to attack our people. They require only great hatred, made more dangerous by advanced technologies,” he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. and British warplanes destroyed a military communications facility in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said Friday. Iraq said the missile strike killed five people, including a couple and their children.
The planes, patrolling the no-fly zone over southern Iraq, used precision-guided weapons to destroy the military site Thursday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The strikes came in response to continued Iraqi hostile actions toward coalition airplanes, it said.
The Iraqi military said the coalition planes bombed "civilian and service installations" in Qadissiya province, some 250 kms south of Baghdad, on Thursday night.
The attack hit two nearby homes, destroying one and damaging the other, killing five people and injuring 17 others, the military said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency. Among the dead were a husband, wife and their two children, the agency said. A 60-year-old man who was also killed was thought to be a relative.
Funerals for the air raid victims were held Friday in Diwaniya, the capital of Qadissiya province, the agency said. Government officials and members of Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party attended. Mourners shouted "Down with Bush" and "Down with America," while others demanded Saddam extract revenge. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
