U.S. continues to fight Gulf War a decade after invasion of Kuwait

In this story: $1 billion a year to enforce no-fly zone 'Back in business making weapons of mass destruction' Presidential politics and Iraq RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Marking the 10th anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the U.S. State Department has renewed its call for a war crimes tribunal to try Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"The compelling character of the evidence against Saddam Hussein will simply not permit a pass on his accountability," Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations David Welsch said Wednesday.

U.S. and Kuwaiti investigators say they have collected evidence of alleged Iraqi war crimes, including killings, torture, rape and the burning of Kuwaiti oil fields. About 600 Kuwaitis are estimated to have been taken as prisoners of war by Iraqi forces.

VIDEO CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports on the Pentagon's view of containment of Iraq Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MESSAGE BOARDS  The U.S. military  Situation in Iraq

Baghdad says it has released all war prisoners, and in recent years has accused Kuwait of withholding information on the fate of 1,150 of its citizens who disappeared during the crisis.

Kuwait on Wednesday barely commemorated the day when Iraqi tanks rumbled almost unopposed into the tiny country, turning it briefly into Iraq's "19th province" and unleashing international panic about the safety of oil supplies.

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein remained silent but state-run Iraqi newspapers struck out at Kuwait's rulers, blaming them for the occupation of the oil-rich emirate.

The ruling Baath Party newspaper said "there was no option" for Iraq but to send troops into Kuwait to repulse what it described as a conspiracy by the United States and Kuwait against Baghdad.

The documents collected by the United States and Kuwait include detailed instructions, some purportedly signed by Saddam Hussein, on how Iraqi forces should set fire to Kuwaiti homes and keep the Kuwaiti civilian population under control with "a hand on the trigger."

U.S. intelligence puts little stock in rumors that Saddam Hussein has cancer, nor is there any indication he has lost his grip on power.

While seeking a tribunal, the United States also seems to be fighting an endless battle to keep the Iraqi leader from seeking greater power.

$1 billion a year to enforce no-fly zone

Once every four days, on average, U.S. or British warplanes bomb Iraq, reportedly to enforce the northern and southern no-fly zones imposed by the allies after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The United States insists its attacks are self-defense in response to Iraq's repeated attempts to shoot down coalition planes.

Denying Iraq 60 percent of its airspace is an expensive mission, costing the United States more than $1 billion a year, and occupying roughly 20,000 U.S. troops.

The Pentagon argues the investment is paying off because while the Iraqi president remains in power, he is boxed in.

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

'Back in business making weapons of mass destruction'

Oil is the main reason the United States is in the Persian Gulf. The region is the source of 65 percent of the world's oil supply and 45 percent of its natural gas.

But another aim is to prevent Baghdad from obtaining germ, chemical or nuclear weapons.

United Nations' weapons inspectors -- forced out by Iraq shortly before the United States and Britain began airstrikes in December 1998 meant to punish Iraq for a lack of cooperation -- still have not been allowed back into the country.

"I don't think there's any doubt at all -- the man is thoroughly back in business making weapons of mass destruction," said Richard Butler, the former head of the U.N. Special Commission.

But Scott Ritter, a former U.N. weapons inspector who was in Iraq for the anniversary Wednesday, told the Associated Press that "Iraq has not been disarmed 100 percent (but) in terms of what they (Iraqis) have accomplished there are no meaningful weapons or weapons production capability in Iraq today."

U.S. commanders, meanwhile, say they are stuck with an open-ended mission that puts U.S. pilots at risk nearly every day.

"It would be nice if we could switch to a policy where we could support some kind of Iraqi resistance that would take Saddam out of the box. However there's very little support for that in the region," said Joseph Collins of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

U.N. sanctions appear to be in question as well, as countries such as Russia and China grow weary of the policies that block them from doing business with Iraq.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine on Wednesday used the anniversary to push for an end to sanctions, saying they posed a risk to the social cohesion of Iraq and thus a threat to regional stability.

"They are cruel because they punish exclusively the Iraqi people and the weakest among them," Vedrine said in an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat.

"They are ineffective because they don't touch the regime, which is not encouraged to cooperate, and they are dangerous because they ... accentuate the disintegration of Iraqi society."

Pentagon officials accuse the Iraqi leader of using U.N. approved oil sales to prop up his regime instead of feeding his people.

Iraqi officials resent U.N. curbs on oil exports and imports under the so-called oil-for-food program, which denies the government direct access to oil revenues that may hit $18 billion this year.

Although the program has prevented wide-scale starvation, Iraqis say it has not addressed pressing issues like unemployment, the sharp decline in personal income and the near collapse of the economy.

Prior to its invasion of Kuwait, Iraq boasted an elaborate health care system, modern telecommunication network, 24 power generating stations and sophisticated water treatment plants.

Today, most of Iraq outside the capital has erratic power supplies of about six hours a day and access to safe water has dropped markedly.

Presidential politics and Iraq

In a few weeks, new U.N. arms inspectors will be ready to return to Iraq. However, Saddam Hussein says they are not welcome, which could set the stage for another possible crisis with the Iraqi leader just as the U.S. presidential campaign takes center stage.

At their convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Republicans saluted the men who led U.S. troops during the Gulf War, including then commander-in-chief George Bush, the GOP presidential candidate's father.

But the Gulf War is a double-edged sword for George W. Bush because while his father scored a military victory, the Bush administration faces criticism it ended the war with Saddam Hussein still in power.

"I believe that everyone in the administration, and throughout the Arab world, thought he could not survive the defeat that he did," said Bush's National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft of the Iraqi leader. "We underestimated his skill and ruthlessness."

Vice President Al Gore also must walk a fine line because he supports the Clinton administration's containment policy, which could mean credit for success or blame for failure.

CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and CNN White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace contributed to this report.

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