Iraqis prepare as Baghdad beats to the rhythm of war

UNTIL now, many Iraqis had seemed in denial about the prospect of war. No longer. Baghdad is beating to a different rhythm in the final hours before the seemingly inevitable US-led onslaught starts.

After President Bush had set yesterday as the final day for UN diplomacy to disarm Baghdad, even those who were sceptical before are panicking now. Realising that war is very near, Iraqis are racing against time to get what they need for the dark days ahead.

Jittery residents are rushing to stock up on essential goods. Long queues of cars, waiting at petrol stations round the clock, are clogging the streets.

"It looks we're in the last hour before the war. The mood of war is everywhere. It is all very depressing and sad. We just don't know what to do," said Souad Saleh, 42, a housewife.

Mosques are joining the fight against the US and Britain. Clerics said they would be centres for "fighting the evil enemy while receiving volunteers for Jihad (holy war)". Through 25 years of intermittent wars and conflict, Iraqis have somehow managed to cope with their hardships, but the strain of the war now looming is etched on people's faces.

"This is a miserable life. We spent our whole life shopping for wars or hiding from bombs" said Ahmed, a driver. "It is all in the hands of God. What is written by God will happen. What can we do?" said Iman Kassem, 46, shopping at a market for canned food.

On the streets of Baghdad, jewellers are emptying their shops of gold. Shopkeepers are also busy, taking home as much as they can of their stock amid a pervasive fear that war will trigger anarchy and looting.

"I try to take as much as I can home. This is all I have. I cannot move everything. I know I will have to sacrifice the rest," said Khalaf.

At the same time, women are selling their jewellery to build up a stock of cash in case they need to flee.

Paradoxically, economic activity has picked up from the normally sluggish level of this sanctions-hit country as a small boom in war necessities takes off. The war trade is in candles, torches and batteries, kerosene lamps and diesel-powered electricity generators.

The expectation of the capital's citizens born of bitter experience is there will be no electricity and there could be a severe shortage of water.

The country of 24 million, once a sophisticated society underpinned by wealth from $20 billion a year in oil sales, was heavily bombed in the 1991 Gulf War. Before that, it lived through the 1980-88 war with Iran.

Some people have already bought water storage tanks. Another brisk trade has built up around illicit hand guns. Perhaps the most lucrative by-product of the emergency is the trade in exit visas and the business of getting those Iraqis who wish to flee out of the country.