U.S. Troops Convinced Ground War Is Coming : Military: They welcome Bush’s ultimatum to Hussein. But few believe that Iraq’s leader will give in.

From secret desert air bases to front-line foxholes, U.S. troops welcomed President Bush’s deadline today for Saddam Hussein to get his troops out of Kuwait, but few expect the Iraqi president to comply in time to avoid a bloody ground war.

“He won’t pull out,” said Army Sgt. Toby Mock, 35, of Sacramento. “He’s a low-life. He’s just trying to buy time. We’re still gonna need to kick his butt out.”

Bush should have issued his deadline “a long time ago.” said Sgt. Thomas Bryant, 34, of St. Louis. “But he (Hussein) won’t go. He’s too stubborn.”

At a U.S. Military Airlift Command hanger at Dhahran’s airport, several dozen soldiers clustered around a television set watching the news or rested on nearby chairs and cots. Most were awaiting flights back to the States for family emergencies.

The soldiers said they were ready and waiting for the long-expected ground assault but wouldn’t be disappointed to leave the harsh desert and return home without fighting if Hussein meets the deadline.

“I don’t think anyone wants to see his friends killed out there,” said Army Capt. Albert Mandrell, 30, of Glendora, Calif. “But we can’t back down either.”

“We’ll all be happy if he leaves,” agreed Specialist Mike Vonlich, 22, of Ft. Riley, Kan. “I’ve just spent 30 days (at the front). Everybody wants to go home. But the man’s got to be stopped. That’s why we’re here.”

Several soldiers praised Bush for setting the 12 noon EST deadline, which expires at 8 o’clock tonight here, if only to relieve the growing tension as more than half a million allied troops await the command to launch the largest ground attack since World War II.

“I think one final chance won’t hurt to avoid a loss of life,” said a sergeant who asked not to be identified. “But he’s been given ultimatums before and he’s refused to move.”

“He (Bush) needs to go right on and not give him any slack,” agreed Pfc. Chezera Porte, 20, of Chicago. “If Saddam wants to leave, he’ll leave. If he wants to stay, he’ll stay.

“But if you ask me, he’s not going,” Porte added. “He doesn’t care for his troops at all. He’s trying to drag it out. But he can’t win. He can’t win.”

Earlier, at a desert air base where the endless roar of attack aircraft taking off made it clear that the latest diplomacy had not stopped the air war, other troops were equally skeptical of Iraq’s apparent agreement Thursday to a peace plan brokered by the Soviet Union.

“I hate to say it, but I think that we should go in with ground forces,” said Airman 1st Class Steve Livingston, 21, of Ft. Worth. “He is stalling for time. If he is not taken out, he will be back.”

The crew chief on a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker, Staff Sgt. Paul Schimanski, 29, of West Long Beach, N.J., said any agreement should require the Iraqis to either abandon or destroy the tanks, artillery and armored vehicles they have hidden in Kuwait. Otherwise, he said, “he may be crazy enough to attack again.”

And at another air base in southwestern Saudi Arabia, pilots and airmen said that whatever happens, the fact that Hussein is publicly considering withdrawing from Kuwait shows that the air war has been a success.

“I think it says a whole lot about what we have done,” said Lt. Col. Dennis Hardziej, 44, of Detroit, commander of the 390th Electronic Combat Squadron of EF-111A radar-jamming jets. “I think we sure have made air power evident,” he added. “Since the start of this war, it’s been all air power, so I think he realized that he was up against a more formidable foe than he thought in the first place.”

Another EF-111A pilot, Maj. Larry Brough, 41, of Cedar City, Utah, stayed up late to hear news on a short-wave radio. “We probably of all people are the ones who want the peace to come about,” he said. “We’re the ones who have been here for six months. We’re the ones who have been going out and flying over Iraq and getting shot at, and we’d certainly like it to end.

“But we want it to end in our favor,” he added. “We don’t want it to end in their favor. And if it takes us to stay here to reach the U.N. objectives, then we’ll be glad to do that. That’s our job.”