US President George W Bush warned today that only "decisive force" would end the war in Iraq, as he held a war council after launching a fearsome aerial barrage on Baghdad and other key targets.
The president warned that despite the terrible force of what the United States has dubbed a "shock and awe" campaign to crush Saddam Hussein's regime, the conflict could last longer than many people expect, despite swift advances made by US troops.
Bush gathered heavy hitters including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, at his Camp David retreat.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, were also on hand at the compound, in the folds of Maryland's Catoctin Mountains.
"A campaign on harsh terrain in a vast country could be longer and more difficult than some have predicted," Bush said in his weekly radio address, cautioning against overconfidence after what US officials have said was a good start to the campaign.
"Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. This will not be a campaign of half-measures," said the president.
"It is a fight for the security of our nation and the peace of the world, and we will accept no outcome but victory."
The Pentagon, meanwhile, was checking reports that two US cruise missiles veered off target in Iraq into neighboring Iran.
"We are aware of that report, we are checking if this missile, or these missiles, went off course," said Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.
An Iranian commander told the official IRNA news agency that two rockets landed in Iran, and British and US warplanes had again violated Iranian airspace in the Abadan area.
AFP