President Clinton, battling for his political survival after a vote in the House of Representatives to impeach him, has declared the US-led air strikes against Iraq a success and said sanctions would continue.
Mr Clinton also warned of further strikes if Baghdad refused to allow the UN arms inspectors to resume their work of monitoring Iraq's programme of weapons of mass destruction, although Iraqi leaders have effectively ruled out their return.
The last strike on Baghdad took place at 9.35 p.m. (6.35 p.m. Irish time) on Saturday, when at least one missile slammed just metres from the entrance of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, wounding three guards according to an army officer.
The Pentagon reported 97 sites were hit and produced aerial photographs of what it said were damaged missile production facilities, collapsed Republican Guard barracks and a government building in Baghdad struck by three cruise missiles.
"We have inflicted significant damage on [President Saddam Hussein's] weapons of mass destruction programs, on the command structures that direct and protect that capability, and on his military and security infrastructure," Mr Clinton said.
US national security leaders, speaking on talk shows yesterday morning, laid out a strategy based on indefinite military and economic containment of Iraq, even in the absence of United Nations weapons inspectors.
The United States and Britain launched the raids on Wednesday after UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) chairman, Mr Richard Butler, reported Iraq was continuing to obstruct his inspections.
"We consider this a very successful attack at this point. Our success goes up almost daily as we have a chance to make a more complete assessment," said the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, Gen Henry Shelton.
"We had very specific military objectives. Those objectives in our judgment have been met," added the US Defence Secretary, Mr William Cohen, appearing with Gen Shelton on CBS's Face the Nation.
But critics, even inside the US, say that by resorting to bombs Washington has thrown away the chance to monitor Iraq's weapons programmes on the ground, without any progress toward removing President Saddam.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, dismissed the criticism. "The inspectors have not been able to do their job for the last eight months . . . We have other means of monitoring, and we reserve the right to use force," she said. "If there is no way for the international community to monitor what he is doing through UNSCOM, then the sanctions will remain in place. Saddam has to take affirmative action to let the UNSCOM inspectors back in." Ms Albright also declared the attacks a success, saying it had weakened Mr Saddam and tightened the siege around him. "Saddam Hussein is weaker because many of the things he cares about have been destroyed, the box he is in is stronger because of the credibility of our use of force. His capability has been severely degraded," she said.
Gen Shelton gave details of three targets in Iraq's military production infrastructure, showing photographs of buildings with large holes where bombs crashed through the roofs. The first was a missile repair facility at Taji, where the Iraqis used to repair all their surface-to-air missiles and also to develop ballistic missiles.
The second was the Zaafaraniyah facility, 20 km south-west of Baghdad, where Iraq makes components and designs machine tools. "Two buildings were targeted and - both were completely destroyed," he said.
At the third site at Shahiyat, a facility where the Iraqis test liquid engines for rockets and missiles, the US aimed at two buildings and a test stand. "Both buildings sustained very severe damage and the test stand was completely destroyed," he added.
"The destruction was heavy and devastating to most of the targets that he holds the most dear," Ms Albright said. It included nine missile research and development facilities, 20 out of 21 of Iraq's command and control facilities and 18 out of 19 targets associated with the protection of Iraq's programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction, Gen Shelton added.
Mr Cohen said the Iraqis might try to rebuild the facilities but the US would keep a watchful eye.
"We are going to be in the region, we are going to maintain our military capability, we are going to continue the sanctions and watch to make sure that he doesn't pose a threat to his neighbours or try to reconstitute these programmes," he said.
"The burden of proof really is on Saddam. He is going to continue to live with the restrictions. He will still have a no-fly zone and a no-drive zone. We will continue the maritime interdiction operations," added Gen Shelton.
US officials had hoped that the raids, especially those on the elite Republican Guards, might produce a backlash against Mr Saddam's leadership, possibly even a mutiny or coup. But Mr Cohen played down this aspect of the plan, saying the US hit Republican Guard units which protect, hide or transport weapons of mass destruction. "It was not our objective to destabilise Saddam. That could have been the consequence [of hitting the Guards] but that was not our major goal," he told ABC's This Week programme.
US helicopters continued to sweep across the desert yesterday after the suspension of raids on Iraq, underlining the lack of a clear resolution.
"Everybody seems to be somewhat more relaxed than obviously they have been the last few days," Lieut Brian Pierce said at a base near the Iraqi frontier. "But there's a bit of uncertainty. No one really knows what's going to happen next."