6 THE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, SUN 20: United States, Britain bomb Iraq Tribune Media Services By WASHINGTON - President Bush ordered strikes on military command targets around Baghdad Friday, setting off air raid sirens and rattling windows in the Iraqi capital and sending a clear message to his father's old adversary. In the first military action of his presidency, Bush dispatched U.S. carrier- - and ground-baseplanes against air defense command and contiol centers. The two dozen attacking aucrafi included six British Tornado fighters as the Labor Party government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined forces with the Republican president's decision to strike Iraq. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein claimed that the United States was acting in concert with Israel and issued a statement calling the attack "proof of their evil intentions." The government in Baghdad reported one death and 1 1 people injured in the stnke. Bush called the strike a "routine" continuation of longstanding U.S. policy designed to prevent Iraq from threatening its neighbors. The Pentagon said the raid responded to increasingly aggressive tactics by Iraqi air defense crews against U.S. and British warzone over southplanes patrolling the ern Iraq. Some experts speculate the tactics represent Saddam testing the new U.S. administration's resolve. Bush, visiting Mexico on his first foreign trip as president, indicated that Iraq could come under further attack if it continues to develop weapons of mass destruction, though the Pentagon said no immediate follow-u- p strikes would be necessary. "Saddam Hussein has got to understand we expect him to conform to the agreement that he signed after Desert Storm," Bush said, referring to the terms of the truce ending the 1991 Persian Gulf war in which Iraq agreed to destroy its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. "Our intention is to make sure that the world is as peaceful as possible," Bush said. d Witness Ben Wattenberg, front left, Author of the sional hearings into TV CNN Report on election coverage reform attends Congres- election coverage in Washington, D.C., February 14, 2001. photo by Tribune Media Services Hearings held on election night coverage Tribune Media Services WASHINGTONIn a nationally By televised e woodshed moment, top news executives of the major television networks went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to admit their mistakes in November's Election Night "debacle," and promise to do better next time. Although some of the initial anger Republicans directed at the networks over the blown projections in the hotly contested presidential race has cooled, there were sharp moments as some Republicans complained that biased projections aided Democratic candidates in Western states, and some witnesses questioned whether it was appropriate for Congress to be looking into the matter at all. Underneath the anger, though, is a careful financial and political calculation. The major networks have high hopes for deregulation in the new Bush administration. Although the past eight years brought significant easing of longstanding limits on station ownership, broadcasters want further loosening, and have been heartened by views expressed by new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, who has questioned the value of the current limcall-tO'th- -- its. On Wednesday, the heads of the major networks' news operations were overwhelmingly conciliatory, promising to make changes to avoid mistakes and not to project winners in elections until all of a state's polls have closed and urging Congress to enact a national uniform poll closing time. While millions of American voters may have moved on from last November's election or simply chalked up the bad projections to news media incompetence, in Washington the election and the networks' actions have the staying power of the Energizer Bunny. The committee, led by Rep. Billy Tauzin, called 1 1 witnesses from the networks, universities and elsewhere but made them cool their heels hours before testifying. During that time, 31 committee members made openingand repetitivestatements, with Republicans criticizing the networks and Democrats complaining that Republicans were using the fiasco to obscure what they characterized as more heinous voting irregularities in Florida and other states. "Elections have been called wrong by the media for a long time," observed Rep. John Dingell And they have, which is why Wednesday's session was theater, a familiarly awkward dance between a Congress that says it does not want to tromp on First Amendment rights and network executives who recognize the importance of maintaining good relations with Washington, especially when it comes to regulatory matters. Broadcasterswho are e hungry to expand in an effort to bolster opportunities with the current administration to raise the ownership cap on TV stations to reach more than the current limit of 35 percent of U.S. households, to allow a network to own another network, and to allow new deals to own a TV station and newspaper in the same market. At Wednesday's hearing, the networks were mortified by their on-ablundersand were reminded of it in a painful, taped montage featuring the mistaken words of Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and others, all of which drew loud laughter from the packed committee room. Because most Americans say they get the majority of their news from television, responding to congressional complaints is important to restore the public image of the networks. "In my heart, I do believe that democracy was harmed by my network and others on Nov. 7, 2000," said Roger Ailes, chairman and chief executive of Fox News Network. "I do believe that the great profession of journalism took many steps backward." The network executives were predictably diplomatic with their inquisitors, firmly but calmly objecting to the adversarial nature of the hearing but otherwise answeri, ing questions in good nature. But Louis president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press, was blunt in his remarks to Congress as he questioned the propriety of the committee's inquiry. "We agree that there were serious short comingscall them terrible mistakesin the election reporting of Nov. 7 and 8 and that these mistakes cannot be allowed to happen again. But fixing them is a job for the nation's editors and news directors, not its legislators," Boccardi said. prof-itsse- ir no-fl- y "And we're going to watch very carefully to whether or not he develops weapons mass destruction. And if we catch him doir so, we'll take the appropriate action." The president and his aides made r mention of Saddam's role as the elder Bus! foe in the gulf w'ar, or of the plot hatched Iraqi security forces, and foiled by U.S. intc ligence, to assassinate the retired president 1993. Friday's attack was unusual because targeted sues close to Baghdad, well north the 33id parallel that marks the norriie' extreme of the southern zone. Of five target areas, four were just oir side of Baghdad. While most of the recen stakes on Iraq have involved pilots respond ing to challenges from the ground, this w; carefully planned over more than a week and approved by the president. The stnke was the largest attack on Ira. since December 1998 and the first in tw years that targeted sites outside the northerr and southern zones. U.S. and British warplanes have been patrolling those zone' designed to contain Iraqi military activity ir the air and on the ground, since the end o gulf war. In addition to the six British Tornadoes the attacking aircraft included Navy fighters flying off the deck of the USS Harr, S. Truman steaming in the Persian Gulf and Air Force flying out of bases in Kuwait The warplanes, backed by some 40 sup port aircraft, including radar jammers, AWACS command planes and aerial tankers, dropped guided bombs with the ability to glide long distances. That enabled the planes to drop their weapons from the relatively safe confines of the southern zone and hit targets 40 to 50 miles to the no-fl- y no-fl- y F-- no-fl- y north. The targets were radar stations and air defense control centers that the Pentagon said had been coordinating an increasingly n against threatening game of the planes patrolling the southern shoot-and-ru- no-fl- y zone. Earnhardt dies during Daytona 500 Boc-card- -- Racing legend Dale Earnhardt died Sunday as a result of this crash on the final lap of the Daytona S00. photo by Tribune Media Services