INCIRLIK AIR BASE (Turkey): Christmas will be a working holiday for US pilots stationed at this Turkish base as a possible war against nearby Iraq looms on the horizon.

Fighter jets from Incirlik in southern Turkey have cruised the skies above northern Iraq since a “no-fly” zone was imposed there after the 1991 Gulf War. Pilots say the patrols, called Operation Northern Watch, have prepared them for any air campaign if the United States decides to strike Baghdad for allegedly developing weapons of mass destruction.

“If something did happen we would definitely be prepared to do what we need to do,” said “Eddy”, an F-16 pilot from O’Neill, Nebraska, who flies with the South Dakota Air Guard. He and other pilots are identified only by their call signs.

“I think everyone would like to be with their family at home for Christmas, but the job here is important,” he added.

Holiday cards from American school children are taped to the walls of the “Morale Tent”, a giant temporary structure where troops gather in lounges decorated with artificial pine trees, poinsettias and coloured lights. In the temperate climate of southern Turkey, all that’s missing is the snow.

“It doesn’t seem much like Christmas to me here, I’m used to having snow where I am at home,” said T-Bone, an F-15 Eagle pilot from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. “I’m not really in the Christmas spirit.”

As clouds gather over the chance of a peaceful resolution of the Washington’s stand-off with Baghdad, T-Bone says the timing of his assignment to Incirlik hasn’t made him more apprehensive.

“It doesn’t frighten me. Right now we’re focused on the job that we’re doing here in Northern Watch,” he said. “If the focus of our mission shifts, if the president decides, then we’ll focus our attention in that direction too.”

KNOWING THE ENEMY: US President George W. Bush has said that President Saddam Hussein must comply with a United Nations resolution to stop developing weapons of mass destruction or face possible military attack. Iraq denies it has such arms.