RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The Pentagon warned Saddam Hussein today that U.S. air power will be ready to attack Iraq by Jan. 1 - even if all ground forces are not ready for war by that U.N.-imposed deadline for him to withdraw from Kuwait. The statement came from a top aide to Defense Secretary Dick Cheney the morning after a senior U.S. commander here raised eyebrows by saying American ground troops might not be ready to fight Iraq until a month or more past the United Nations deadline - and that he would urge President Bush not to order any attack until the full U.S. deployment was ready for war. Cheney spokesman Pete Williams said Cheney ``was not displeased'' by Lt. Gen. Calvin A.H. Waller's candid assessment. Still, today's statement by Williams and other comments by senior military officers here appeared clearly designed to give the deadline more teeth to counter any interpretation of Waller's remarks as possibly undermining Bush's demand that Saddam meet the deadline or risk attack. ---&equals; WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, trying to blunt criticism in Congress, says U.S. allies have spent more than $9 billion for the American-led military showdown with Iraq and ``the support is there.'' Some lawmakers have accused Germany and Japan - wealthy nations dependent on oil imports - of letting the United States shoulder the financial and military burden of the Persian Gulf crisis. Sen. Jim Sasser, D-Tenn., said Saudi Arabia was reaping a windfall profit of about $150 million a day in increased oil sales and have contributed only $987 million in cash and material - equivalent to about 6.5 days' worth of those profits. Sasser, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said Japan had pledged $4 billion to the gulf effort and had paid $374 million through Nov. 30. Germany, he said, had offered $900 million and paid $330 million. ---&equals;
