At Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base, U.S. troops say they're ready for war in Iraq, but have some doubts

Tuesday, October 8th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - As cargo jets rumbled past in the Afghan night, soldiers at Bagram Air Base who tuned in for Bush's speech on Iraq said they were ready for another war, but had doubts about doing it without world support.

â€œI agree with the president that something has to be done,â€ said Senior Airman George Bonney, 27, of Portsmouth, Va. â€œBut I don't like going it alone. I don't think that's a good idea at all.â€

Bonney and other Air Force servicemen and women on the night shift gathered in their television lounge - a tent outfitted with some easy chairs - at 4:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday as Bush addressed the nation live from Cincinnati.

Thousands of U.S. troops are stationed here to help search for remnants of the al-Qaida terrorism network, which Bush tried to link with Iraq in his speech.

Here, war is a daily reality, not a possibility, and the soldiers listened grimly as Bush spoke. Some carried night vision goggles along with their M-16 assault rifles. The Bagram airfield operates under blackout conditions because of occasional gunfire outside the fences.

Some of the troops are already scheduled to deploy in Kuwait, and would be on the front lines of a possible war.

â€œIf anything happens, I'll be in the middle of it,â€ said Senior Airman Devin Miller, 21, from Newport News, Va. He is a ground crew chief in a squadron of A-10 tank-killer planes.

Technical Sgt. John Kendall, 37, of Overton, Nev., said he had served with forces helping to enforce the no-fly zones over Iraq, and was eager to see Saddam Hussein toppled.

â€œWe've been going tit for tat with them. They'd lock on to our aircraft, we'd take out their SAM (surface to air missile) sites. We should have taken him out 10 years ago,â€ he said.

Most agreed with Bush's insistence that the United States must enforce U.N. resolutions demanding that Iraq disarm. National Guard member Kris Sullivan likened it to her job as a deputy sheriff in Milwaukee Country, Wis.

â€œIn my job, you cannot stand by when someone is doing wrong. You need to assist - fix it or stop it,â€ she said.

Some, however, had doubts about the logistics of broadening the war on terror to two fronts. â€œWe're spread kind of thin,â€ said Kendall.

They also wondered who might replace the Iraqi leadership, noting that in Afghanistan, U.S. troops had a ready force of armed Afghan allies. Those allies represented the internationally recognized government of Afghanistan after the Taliban militia seized power.

â€œIn Afghanistan we had two sides, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance ... and we chose one over the other. There, I don't know. He (Bush) doesn't give a lot of basics on who will replace Saddam Hussein's government,â€ Bonney said.