Saddam's troops await US-led forces

Hundreds of security forces and armed members of President Saddam Hussein’s Baath party deployed throughout Baghdad today, taking up positions in the city and on its southern approaches as the Bush ultimatum for the Iraqi leader to leave or face war drew closer.

Much of Baghdad, normally a vibrant city of five million people, began to resemble a ghost city as darkness fell, with almost every store shut. Residents continued to stream out of the city, heading to the countryside to escape the expected bombing.

Iraqi officials, however, remained defiant in the face of about 300,000 US and British troops backed by 1,000 warplanes and a fleet of warships – all poised to attack Iraq to rid it of weapons of mass destruction that Washington and London say Saddam is concealing.

Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz appeared at a Baghdad news conference, putting to rest rumours that he had defected and declaring that he would rally behind the Iraqi leader.

Ruling out a last-minute political solution, Aziz told journalists: “We are ready to fight, prepared to face the aggressors and are certain of victory.”

Aziz, who scoffed that rumours of his defection were part of a psychological war, added: “It is not going to be a short war, unless he (President George Bush) decides to end his aggression. It is not going to be a picnic for him.”

“I am carrying my pistol to confirm to you that we are ready to fight the aggressors,” Aziz said.

“American soldiers are nothing but mercenaries and they will be defeated.”

Bush has given Saddam and his sons until 4 am (1am Irish time Thursday) to leave Iraq or face war. Saddam rejected the 48 hour ultimatum on Tuesday.

Today, members of Iraq’s parliament declared their loyalty to Saddam and renewed their confidence in his leadership.

“We are dedicated to martyrdom in defence of Iraq under your leadership,” they said in a message to Saddam.

Speaker Saadoon Hammadi opened the extraordinary meeting by saying: “The people of Iraq, with a free and honest will, have spoken decisively and clearly in choosing their mujahid leader Saddam Hussein president of the country.”

Bahrain, a small Gulf state allied with the United States, offered Saddam a haven, the first such offer to be publicly extended to Iraqi leader as Arabs scramble to avert war.

Baath loyalists and security forces, meanwhile, stood behind hundreds of sandbagged fighting positions built over the past two weeks. Some were inside foxholes. Most were armed with Kalashnikovs, but some had rocket propelled grenades and heavy machine-guns. On Baghdad’s southern fringes, several anti-aircraft guns could be seen.

Even traffic policemen wore helmets and carried assault rifles on Wednesday.

The Baathists, who wore olive-green uniforms and deployed in clusters of fours and fives, are widely expected to take charge of law and order in Iraqi cities in the event of war.

Saddam, Iraq’s president for 23 years, also was expected to look to them and other loyal militiamen and troops to deal with any anti-government stirrings by groups tempted to capitalise on chaos to seize power.

Curiously, there was no sign of Iraq’s army troops or armour in or outside Baghdad, where Saddam is widely expected to make his final stand against any invaders.

Asked Wednesday after the parliament’s session whether Saddam would bow to US demands and flee, Hammadi said: ”He will be in front of everyone. He will fight and guide our country to victory. This is absolutely unthinkable.”

Iraq’s parliament is a rubber-stamp legislature. Saddam’s Revolution Command Council and the ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party have the final say in the country.

Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf told a news conference that Washington was deceiving American troops about the number of casualties they would sustain.

“We tell American soldiers and officers in Kuwait or wherever else they may be: ’Open your eyes and be alert to the lies of the American administration’ ... (to say that) invading Iraq will be like a picnic is a stupid idea,” he said.

Earlier, Baghdad residents did last-minute shopping at the food stores that remained open, seemingly resigned that war would come within hours.

“We cry for Baghdad,” said civil servant and part-time Baghdad historian Abdel-Jabar al-Tamimi.

“Tonight, we shall be awake waiting for the bombs to fall, but we will also remember that God is stronger than oppression. Wars come and go, but Baghdad will remain.”

Shelves in many shops in the commercial heart of Baghdad were nearly empty after store owners moved their merchandise to warehouses, fearing bombing or looting.

“I took all my goods home for fear of the bombing,” said Tareq Khalil, who owns a store that sells spectacle frames on Al-Rasheed street, Baghdad’s oldest surviving road.

Along the road from Baghdad to Jordan, petrol stations were crowded but traffic was light.

Some gas stations along the sand-swept route had emptied their tanks trying to match the demand, with the cost of a litre of petrol soaring to 64p from its usual 1p.

The exodus of diplomats continued, with Iran calling its diplomats home and those from Poland, Greece and France heading for Jordan. Many of the hundreds of foreign journalists covering the stand-off have also left, with only several dozen now in the capital.

India began evacuating thousands of its citizens working in the Gulf region, while the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Nepal made plans to do the same.