On eve of Kuwait invasion anniversary, Pentagon defends prosecution of Gulf War

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon on Tuesday defended the validity of the 1991 Gulf War victory against Iraq, casting aside suggestions that the allied action was hollow given the continued presence of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and some 24,000 U.S. troops still stationed in the region to contain Iraqi's military.

"I think we are containing him every day from the depredations that made him a pariah in the Middle East in 1990, when he invaded Kuwait, 10 years ago tomorrow", said Defense Department spokesman Ken Bacon.

MESSAGE BOARDS  The U.S. military  Situation in Iraq

"And he is no longer a threat to his neighbors and is not seen as a threat to his neighbors", he said, "That's largely because of the containment that we have carried out."

Saddam's ability to maintain power in Iraq and remain a threat to regional stability has created a perception among many that the brief U.S.-lead war against Iraq did not go far enough and should have removed Saddam Hussein from power before halting.

Now, 10 years after the August 2nd Iraqi invasion of Kuwait set in motion the chain of events that lead to the Persian Gulf War, Saddam is very much in control of his nation and believed to be wealthier than he was prior to the war, having banked millions if not billions from the illegal sale of oil.

Bacon conceded that Saddam's personal wealth has likely increased over the last 10 years, but suggested that the rogue president lives in fear of assassination within his own country.

"Yes, he has skimmed off a lot of money. He's built new palaces for his own benefit, apparently not for the benefit of the people of Iraq", he said.

"So he may personally feel that his standard of living is fine. I don't know how he would feel that. He's in a sense a captive in his country. He can't leave. He seems to move around regularly, in order to avoid assassination or other attacks from forces that wish him ill."

The United States still maintains about 24,000 troops in the Persian Gulf region to "contain" Iraq at a cost of well more than $1 billion per year.

Military mandates there include the enforcement of a United Nations imposed oil embargo and enforcement of the so-called "no-fly zones" in the northern and southern Iraq, where the U.S. and Iraq regularly exchange fire.

"We think that the Operation Southern Watch and Northern Watch have been able to debilitate Saddam Hussein's air defenses quite a lot", Bacon told reporters, "For one thing, we think that he's largely afraid to use his top of the line air defense systems, for fear of losing them to our patrolling airplanes."

"He fires quite a lot of AAA (anti-aircraft artillery) and missiles at us", Bacon said.

Although neither the U.S. nor Great Britain have had any airplanes shot down while patrolling the zones, most military commanders believe that is only a matter of time.

Britain is the only other nation that flies enforcement missions in the no-fly zones. France also participated in the no-fly zone enforcement, but Paris halted that participation years ago.

"I would question what joy one can derive from being a strongman in a weak country, as Saddam Hussein is," Bacon said.

"He has not been able to rebuild his military, in part because of our containment, but also in large part because of the United Nations' embargo on Iraq, which has prevented him from buying the military equipment he would like to buy."

Bacon also attacked Hussein for failing to take full advantage of United Nations sponsored "oil for food" programs.

"He delayed for a long while participating in the oil-for-food program, which has actually been one of the hopeful and helpful measures that the U.N. has brought to Iraq, allowing it to import more food in return for the oil it sells," Bacon said.

"He, as I say, is an emperor in a weak country, and a weak, dispirited country, Bacon said.

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