CRISIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF : Lawmakers Give Glowing Reports After Visiting GIs : Military: Sen. Inouye says any war with Iraq would be over in five days. Views give White House a boost in crucial period.

WASHINGTON —  During the crucial period leading up to possible military action in the Persian Gulf, members of Congress are providing a boost to the White House by returning from Pentagon-escorted visits to Saudi Arabia with glowing reports of the military’s ability to defeat Iraq.

“I personally think that if there is war, it will be a short one that will last no more than five days,” said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), who met with President Bush on Wednesday after a quick trip to the gulf.

“With all the air power we have there . . . if we cannot gain air superiority within six hours, let’s say wipe out their missile sites and their command-and-control centers within two, three days, then something is wrong with our defense structure,” he said.

Inouye and other members of the House and Senate met with senior-level U.S. commanders in Saudi Arabia and with GIs, most of them chosen by officers. The Congress members’ remarks on returning home serve to reinforce Bush’s insistence that any combat against Iraq would not turn into another drawn-out, Vietnam-like conflict.

The comments, particularly those from Democrats, are providing the White House with a unifying image before the January opening of Congress, when a debate on gulf policies could resume.

Referring to congressional qualms, as well as public opinion polls that show continuing questioning about Bush’s goals in the gulf and the readiness of Americans to support a war there without giving economic sanctions more time to work, Inouye said: “The troops are ready, the commanders are ready, the allies are ready. The question is, is America ready?”

The White House offered little comment on the gulf crisis Wednesday. However, Vice President Dan Quayle announced he will visit with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh and visit with U.S. troops deployed in the gulf from Dec. 29 to Jan. 2.

Quayle will be the last of the senior Administration officials to visit the gulf, after a Thanksgiving Day visit there by Bush, and several trips by Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater did not endorse Inouye’s assessment, but he didn’t quarrel with it, either.

“Our commanders feel confident about their strength and their superiority in many areas, their ability to conduct whatever response is necessary in a fast and effective fashion. But we would be most reluctant to try to put numbers of days on it,” he said.

California Rep. Anthony C. Beilinson (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who in the past expressed some reservations about the size of the gulf operation, seemed less doubtful after his trip to Saudi Arabia.

In a recent telephone interview from Jerusalem after he met in Saudi Arabia with Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of U.S. forces, and visited with troops 50 to 60 miles south of the Saudi-Kuwaiti border, Beilinson said “the troops were just tremendous.”

“(They are) living out literally on the sand in sleeping bags next to tanks or armored personnel carriers,” he said. “They’re proud of themselves and their capabilities. They’re confident of their ability to do what they’re asked to.”

He said he was left with “conflicting feelings: on the one hand, you almost hope they have an opportunity to prove themselves. They’d really like to show how good they are. On the other hand, having met them personally, you come away feeling so strongly you don’t want to lose a single one of them because they’ve become people to you.”

California Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who traveled with Beilinson, said members of the congressional delegation found the morale of the troops so surprisingly high that it became a topic of conversation among themselves.

Other members of Congress have returned recently with similar reports. This is a shift from the days earlier in the deployment when reporters and VIPs visiting the troops out of the hearing range of nearby officers were getting an earful of complaints about the uncertain length of the mission, about food and conditions in general.

“We don’t have a bunch of Rambos out there--not gung-ho, nuke-’em-type of philosophy,” Gallegly said. “They’re prepared to do what they’re asked to do, but they’re not anxious to get into a war.”

Another member of the House just back from Saudi Arabia, Rep. Barbara F. Vucanovich (R-Nev.), said morale is good “almost without exception.”

But she said of the troops: “They’re bored, sitting and waiting, not knowing what’s going to happen. They all want to fish or cut bait.”

Rep. Barbara B. Kennelly (D-Conn.) said in a statement: “I spoke with Saudi commanders at several locations and was impressed by the close and extensive cooperation between their command units and U.S. units. My overwhelming impression from two days with our forces is that morale is excellent.”

But she and others expressed concern that the contributions by other nations in the coalition lined up against Iraq are lagging well behind those of the United States.

“U.S. ground forces now outnumber allied ground forces--including the Saudi army and national guard--by a rate of two to one,” she said.

Times staff writer William J. Eaton contributed to this report.