Soldiers mark holiday in Gulf

There was no Christmas break for U.S. pilots patrolling Iraqi skies from this Saudi base, and similar flights screeched off the deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier at sea.

But holiday spirit was plentiful Wednesday among the American troops stationed in the Persian Gulf region — a force of 60,000 and growing as the United States contemplates war with Iraq.

Football games, turkey and roast beef dinners, brightly colored gifts from home and phone calls to family brightened the day. Mess halls were decked with colored lights, garlands, shiny paper ornaments and elaborate cakes.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., dropped by with greetings for American troops at Prince Sultan Air Base. He assured them that the military pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has strong bipartisan support back home.

About 4,000 U.S. personnel are stationed at this desert base of sand-colored buildings from which U.S. commanders ran the 1991 Gulf War and now direct air patrols over southern Iraq.

“What you have done to keep Saddam in the box and to put us in a position now, where we are challenging him to live by the promises he made at the end of the Gulf War to disarm, is an invaluable service,” Lieberman said through a bullhorn.