Iraqis Seem Indifferent to U.S. Bomb Peril

By Alistair Lyon

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqis wearied by years of tension are shrugging off the threat of
imminent devastation posed by the high-tech U.S. weaponry arrayed against them.

"People are not frightened any more," said one Baghdad taxi-driver. "Whatever happens, let it
happen."

The United States and Britain have threatened military action to force Iraq to grant unfettered access
to U.N. weapons inspectors to all sites suspected of containing material related to banned weapons
of mass destruction.

As the previous crisis over U.N. weapons inspections built up in November, many residents of the
Iraqi capital hoarded food and scoured for rationed gasoline.

Now, with President Saddam Hussein again locked in a battle of nerves with President Bill Clinton,
there are few visible signs of panic in a city whose key installations could soon be in the bomb-sights
of U.S. and British pilots.

The Iraqi dinar has stayed more or less stable at about 1,500 to the dollar and food prices have
barely changed.

University students, factory workers and government employees can be seen drilling on makeshift
parade grounds in response to a call for a part-time volunteer defense force.

Iraqi television this week showed uniformed cabinet ministers with assault rifles marching up and
down.

But at least some of the hastily trained volunteers are aware that they are unlikely to tip the military
balance.

"We laugh at ourselves," confided a student whose engineering classes have been stopped for the
mobilization. "They have given us some ancient Kalashnikov rifles. They have promised to give us 45
bullets each in the next two days."

The government, which ended petrol rationing last month, has not announced any instructions to the
public on practical precautions for a possible U.S.-led blitz on Baghdad.

Even hospitals, told in November to prepare extra emergency wards and draw up round-the-clock
staff rosters to cope with bomb casualties, have received no such orders this time round.

"In November we made an emergency ward for the reception of casualties, children and others,"
said Samir Kalander, director of the Saddam Central Teaching Hospital for Children.

"Now there are no orders or special preparations. We all hope there will be no military action," he
told Reuters.

Some Iraqis, bombarded by official media reports of Arab, Islamic and international support for a
diplomatic solution, are convinced that one will eventually be found.

Others feel that a military strike would somehow resolve the uncertainty and periodic crises Iraqis
have grappled with since the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War.

"If there is any American strike now, there will be some solution to our problems," said a government
employee. "The whole world will face the United States. Arab states and others are against military
action and sympathies with our suffering.

"Maybe then there will be balance in the world. Russia and China are against the U.S. position," he
said.

But perhaps for most people, the drumbeat of propaganda and counter-propaganda has become
irrelevant to the basic task of survival under sanctions that have crippled Iraq's economy.

"People are not defiant," said one Western aid official.

"They have been kicked continuously in the teeth for a long time. Now they feel that, OK if you want
to hit us, go ahead and hit us, but leave us our dignity," he said.

 Thursday February 12 11:45 AM EST

 Arafat: Palestinians Ready to Renew Intifada

 RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - President Yasser Arafat said Thursday that Palestinians
 were ready to renew their popular uprising against Israeli occupation if peacemaking collapsed.

 He renewed a pledge to declare an independent Palestinian state in May 1999 in the absence of a
 final peace deal with Israel and said he was ready to die to put East Jerusalem in Palestinian
 hands.

 "We declared the Palestinian state in Algiers in 1988 and we will declare it in 1999 over our
 Palestinian land despite those who wish that it won't happen and whoever doesn't like that may
 drink from the Gaza sea or Dead Sea," Arafat said in a speech.

 Peacemaking plunged into crisis 11 months ago when Israel broke ground for a new Jewish
 settlement in Arab East Jerusalem.

 Palestinians accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of working to destroy the 1993
 Oslo interim peace deals, which ended an uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank
 and Gaza known as the intifada which started in 1987.

 "We have made the greatest intifada...for seven years. We can erase those years and start it all
 over again," Arafat said.

 He made his speech at a ceremony to launch a series of events marking 50 years since the 1948
 Arab-Israeli war which led to the creation of the state of Israel and the flight of Palestinians from
 their towns and villages.

 Palestinians call the war the "Great Catastrophe."

 The Oslo accords set May 5, 1999 as the deadline for a final peace settlement between Israel and
 the Palestinians.

 Peace moves are virtually frozen and there has been no discussion of the future status of
 Jerusalem, one of the most contentious issues on the table.

 Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel regards all the city as its
 "eternal capital."

 "God willing, I wish martyrdom for this cause (Jerusalem)," Arafat responded to a man who said
 the Palestinian people hoped Arafat would "live long enough to see Jerusalem.