U.S. DROPS "DESERT STORM" REMINDER

A pair of U.S. B-52 bombers unleashed 27,000 pounds of explosives near Iraq's border, aiming to show Saddam Hussein who's still boss on the fourth anniversary of the dictator's invasion of Kuwait. The thunderous display of air power -- part of joint U.S.-Kuwaiti maneuvers -- took place as part of a 10-year defense pact Kuwait signed with Washington in 1991. Baghdad didn't seem to get the message. State-run newspapers there hailed the Aug. 2, 1990, invasion as "an eternal day in the march of the Arab nation." One paper, run by Hussein's eldest son, noted: "Our glorious nation . . . succeeded in beating the aims of the enemy."