The bombing of Iraq, which began hours before the impeachment debate last week, ended hours after the impeachment vote, lending another delicious twist to the conspiracy theories about the two being linked.But US officials said the 70-hour mayhem they had wreaked on Iraq had ``significantly degraded'' Baghdad's capability and Washington's mission had been accomplished.

``We gave our forces a very difficult job to do ... and they did it with great skill,'' Defense Secretary William Cohen said at a briefing shortly after President Bill Clinton announced an end to the air campaign.

Pentagon officials said they had demolished more than 100 targets, including Saddam Hussein's presidential sites and the Baathparty headquarters. US and British forces flew more than 600 sorties and launched some 415 Tomahawk cruise missiles. ``Our goal was to weaken Iraq's military power, not to hurt the Iraqi people,'' Secretary Cohen said of the mission that ended as mysteriously as it began even as protests roiled the middle east and Arab countries.

In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain too called off its air strikes but warned Saddam Hussein that his country was ready to attack again if necessary. Blair said the US-led raids have met their military objectives.

``He has now received the clearest possible signal of our intent to take action by force should he once again act in defiance of his international obligations, in the face of an international community united in its determination to contain the threat which he poses,'' he added.

Meanwhile, normalcy, or sanity, was fast returning to Washington on Sunday after the blur of history on Saturday as America's impeached President fought to maintain his poiseand command amid the political and personal debris.

About the most significant political development on impeachment day was the return to the President's side of First Lady Hillary Clinton. After being glacial in the weeks preceding the impeachment, the American First Lady appears to have chosen a decisive moment to show her support to her tainted husband.

After going up to the Capitol Hill Saturday morning to rally the Democratic troops before the historic vote, she was literally by his side at a White House Rose Garden appearance after the ignominy of impeachment, nodding as the President asserted his resolve to continue in office till the end of his term.

The entire Democratic leadership was also by his side, including his vice-president Al Gore and another putative presidential candidate, House leader, Richard Gephardt.

Hillary Clinton's popularity among women and idolising Democratic forces are seen as being crucial in keeping President Clinton in power despite the personal turbulence they mustbe going through, the First Couple have so far kept up a brave public appearance.

The President and the First Lady have been partying everyday, this being Christmas time. The White House calendar is filled with `party-a-day' and the First Couple, despite all the strains have charmed their social circle.

While Clinton indicated that he was ready for a reasonable compromise that could avert a trial in the Senate, the President's job approval rating climbed over the 70 per cent following his impeachment, according to one opinion poll. But the poll also showed that support for his impeachment by the House climbed to 43 percent from 40 percent Wednesday.

A separate poll showed 66 per cent of respondents opposing a suggestion that it would be better for the country if Clinton resigned, while 31 percent supported that notion. White House spinmeisters are worried that this equation could change if the prospects of a Senate trial puts off people already enervated by an overdose of the scandal through1998.

Defiant Saddam proclaims victory

DUBAI: Iraqi president Saddam Hussein today struck a triumphal note saying ``...God rewarded you and delighted your hearts with the crown of victory,'' in a videotaped address telecast by Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite television station. ``You were up to the level that your leadership and brother and comrade Saddam Hussein had hoped you would be at,'' he said.

The Iraqi president told his people that their sacrifice had ``awakened those who are asleep or those who pretended to be sick, a lot of whom exist in the Arab nation and in the world.'' The remarks were apparently aimed at Arab countries which had not backed Iraq in its dispute with the United Nations over weapons inspections. Baghdad was defiant on these issues, with Iraqi vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan saying that Iraq would severe all ties with the UNSCOM.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi parliamentary official categorically said inspection team chief, Richard Butler, and his ``clique arefinished for ever and will no longer be admitted in Iraq.'' ``They bombarded weapons of mass destruction as they said, now they must lift the sanctions,'' he said.