A Deep-Discount Air Force

By DAVID ELLIS

What are Saddam Hussein's chances of retrieving the Iraqi air force jets that fled to Iran during the gulf war? About zero, estimates a senior Administration official. At first, he says, Pentagon analysts couldn't understand why the Iranians claimed that only 22 Iraqi fighter planes and transport aircraft had flown across the border "when we all knew they had 140." They know now. "Tehran has been very busy painting over" Iraqi markings, says the official. "Those planes are the new Iranian air force."

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart