In Iraqi Capital, People Prepare For The Conflict

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 17 — The people of Baghdad hastened today to prepare for war, taping windows, shuttering shops and restaurants, and hauling away everything of value they could load into cars, minivans and trucks.

The 4.5 million residents of the city had little official information about the outside events that made war appear imminent, notably President Bush's announcement in the Azores on Sunday that he was calling a halt to months of United Nations diplomacy over Iraq's banned weapons and Saddam Hussein's government.

All that Iraqis learned from official outlets came in the form of defiant statements from President Hussein and his ministers, who vowed in vitriolic language that American troops would be defeated.

But Iraqis have had decades of practice in evading government controls on information, relying on shortwave radio broadcasts from Europe and the United States and illicit satellite television systems that defy severe government penalties. So from the moment that Baghdad woke up today, the city was buzzing with ordinary people preparing for the conflict ahead, and rife with talk about what American war plans might portend.

As best an outsider could judge, given the widespread fear here of any candor in discussing political matters, the mood was one of deep apprehension of the immediate consequences for ordinary Iraqis of American air and ground assaults. But coupled with that, though barely whispered, there was a suppressed but fevered anticipation of the changes for the better that could come if American troops accomplish Mr. Bush's aim of toppling Mr. Hussein.

Amid the apprehension and anticipation, the people of Baghdad concentrated on doing what they could, and as almost everyone who spoke to Western reporters said, trusting the rest to God.

Huge lines formed at gas stations as people filled up with fuel that, at 2 cents a liter, is one of the few material privileges left here. Others went shopping for water storage tanks, kerosene lamps, electrical generators, flashlights and batteries, and canned food.

At a suburban school, 14-year-old boys were ordered to dig a series of trenches about 10 feet long and 5 feet deep, while chanting, "This may look like trench, but it's not, it's George W. Bush's grave."

Jewelers and dress-shop owners and restaurateurs emptied their premises of valuables, then locked up. The expressway westward to Jordan, an oasis of relative freedom whose border lies about 350 miles from Baghdad, was said to be busier than usual with families who had bribed officials for exit visas. Iraqis looking for guidance from Mr. Hussein found little to help them today. State television reported that he had greeted Tunisia's foreign minister, Habib Ben Yahia, with a promise that Iraq's forces, said by Western experts to be depleted and demoralized, would overwhelm the Americans.

"We hope that the war will not take place, thanks be to God, because we do not need to test the courage and resistance of our people," he was reported to have said.

But he added: "We are ready to sacrifice our souls, our children and our families so as not to give up Iraq. We say this so no one will think that America is capable of breaking the will of the Iraqis with its weapons. If the evil were to come, we would defeat it."

On Sunday, Mr. Hussein set the tone by vowing that the United States "should realize that the battle between us will be waged wherever there is sky, earth and water," suggesting that Iraq could somehow strike far outside its own borders, perhaps even in the United States.

That was coupled with remarks in which he again denied that Iraq had any banned chemical, biological or other weapons, and mocked American allegations to the contrary, saying, "Well, give us time and the necessary means and we will produce any weapon they want, and then we will invite them to come and destroy them."

Today, Iraqi ministers followed up with a welter of attacks on the United States. The information minister, Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf, described the Azores meeting as "a summit of outlaws" and "war merchants" who had failed to produce any proof that Iraq had banned weapons. In an interview tonight on Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language network, he said, "I promise President Bush and Prime Minister Blair that they will leave office, and President Saddam Hussein will still be in power here."

For years, it has been plain that the official adulation of Mr. Hussein echoed in almost every Iraqi's conversation with the Western press has masked a deep yearning for relief from repression. As American pressures have peaked in recent days, those yearnings have found new expression among people who have dared to start saying things against Mr. Hussein that still carry the potential for severe retribution, apparently because they believe that time is too short now for their worst nightmares to be realized.

Even reporting what those Iraqis say can be dangerous, and not only for the Iraqis themselves. As the hours ticked away toward the time set for Mr. Bush's televised address setting a 48-hour ultimatum for the Iraqi leader to quit power — 4 a.m. Tuesday in Baghdad — reporters for Western newspapers and television channels who have been working in Baghdad engaged in their own debate about whether to stay or leave, and a growing number chose to depart.

The 150 reporters still in the city, down from about 300 a week ago, were rapidly becoming the largest group of foreigners remaining. About 60 United Nations weapons inspectors, along with about 100 staff members, were expected to leave Baghdad on Tuesday morning.

One factor weighing on everyone's mind was Mr. Hussein's weekend announcement that Iraq was to be divided into four military districts, and that the Baghdad region would be under the personal command of his 36-year-old younger son, Qusay. Iraqis debated among themselves about how Saddam Hussein and his inner circle — especially Qusay Hussein, long regarded as the heir apparent to the unlimited powers accumulated over 23 years by his father, and his 38-year-old older brother, Uday, who controls the paramilitary force known as Saddam's Holy Fighters — would respond to an American attack on Baghdad.

Would Saddam Hussein, his sons and other high-ranking officials make a last stand in one of their many palaces, or in the vast underground network of tunnels and bunkers that German and other Western companies helped them build in the 1980's? And would they order the arrest of Westerners to be deployed as human shields at potential American bombing targets, as Saddam Hussein did with scores of Western businessmen before the Persian Gulf war in 1991, an expedient that the Iraqi leader eventually abandoned before the conflict began?

Or would they simply disappear, as Osama bin Laden did in Afghanistan, and become "shadows" eluding their American pursuers, as Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein's most trusted advisers, predicted in an interview with an American reporter last October?

(Adapted from GLADIATOR …my all-time, favorite, best-ever, never-to-be topped movie!!!! )

Hour of Truth is at Hand

On the outskirts of Baghdad, soldiers line up readying for the "MOAB" -- Mother of all Battles -- as GEN "MAXIMUS" FRANKS walks along their ranks. Soldiers rise as he approaches, looking at him with respect, addressing him with admiration as they call out his name, "General" -- He passes through the ranks with a smile as he greets the soldiers. This is the man who will lead them to victory, and hopefully his leadership will keep them alive. As GEN Franks continues along the path, he approaches and addresses two of his leading commanders.]

GEN FRANKS: Lean and hungry. Still nothing?
CMDR QUINTUS: Not a sign.
GEN FRANKS: How long now to the deadline?
CMDR VALERIAS: Nearly 2 hours sir.
CMDR VALERIAS: Will they leave (Saddam and two sons) sir?
GEN FRANKS: We shall know soon enough.

[CMDR QUINTUS studies the soldiers readying their mobile missile launchers.]

CMDR QUINTUS: Soldier, I ordered you to move those missile launchers forward-- they're out of range.!
GEN FRANKS: Range is good.
CMDR QUINTUS: The danger to the calvary...
GEN FRANKS: [interrupts]: It is acceptable, agreed?

[Off in the distance, cries of the Iraqis can be heard - "Ihr seid hunde!" (You are dogs!). A courier arrives from near the front. GEN FRANKS watches closely as the courier announces:

"They say no!"

Then again, coming from the Republican Guard: "Ihr seid verfluchte hunde!" (You are damned dogs!)

[An Iraqi cries out and fires his weapon at random into the air, while others shake and wave their weapons, hollering the feral cries of war, ready to fight.]

CMDR QUINTUS: People should know when they are conquered.
GEN FRANKS: Would you, Quintus? Would I?

[GEN FRANKS bends down and picks up a handful of dirt, bringing it to his nose to smell. He looks to the side and sees his WOLF OF FREEDOM eagerly watching him, moaning as FRANKS studies him. They steady their gaze connecting with each other as they prepare for battle. GEN FRANKS rises and turns to his two Commanders. He gives Quintus a strong, firm arm/handshake saying: "Strength and honour."
Quintus then turns to Valerius, and with a firm arm/handshake also says: "Strength and honour."

GEN FRANKS [getting into his humvee, looks to CMDR Quintus]: "At my signal, unleash hell!"

[GEN FRANKS rides off. His wolf breaks free from the handler, charging after him, running along side the humvee as the General passes the soldiers who stand along the route.]

CMDR QUINTUS: Load the rocker launchers! Infantry form up for advance…Armor units ready!
Infantry Chief: Soldiers!
Unit Cmdr: Ready!
Soldier: READY!

[GEN FRANKS rides around to the flank position, streaked with sunlight as it peers through the clouds. The divisions await GEN FRANKS. With his wolf running closely at his side, the General reaches the soldiers and addresses the men....]

GEN FRANKS: Fratres..., three weeks from now I will be back at home, imagine where you will be and it will be so. Hold the lines, stay with me. If you find yourself alone riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled, for you are in Elysium and you're already dead!!!.

[The men laugh. The wolf's stare remains fixed on GEN FRANKS.]

Brothers, what we do in life…echoes in eternity.

[A soldier approaches and hands GEN FRANKS his helmet. As the General readies for the MOAB, he turns to the Unit Lead and nods, giving the signal to: "unleash hell!"]

[With arm raised, standing atop the humvee--for all to see--GEN FRANKS leads the Allies forward; their advance increasing to a thunderous roar. As they head toward battle, GEN FRANKS gives the order: "Hold the line! Hold the line! Stay with me! Stay with me!"]

[With the unified divisions advancing, fire explodes all around as the Iraqis charge. GEN FRANKS's wolf leaps through a wall of flames. The Allies reach the Iraqis as GEN FRANKS cries out: "ALLIED VICTORY!"

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