Iraqis make defense preparations in Baghdad

? Iraqis prepared Tuesday to defend their nation against an American-led attack, stacking oil barrels and dry wood in parts of Baghdad — ready to be set afire in hopes of concealing targets during an aerial bombardment.

Baghdad residents mobbed bakeries and gas stations in a desperate rush for supplies. Shelves in many shops were empty after store owners moved merchandise to warehouses, fearing bombing or looting.

Defying a U.S. ultimatum to leave Iraq with his sons or face war, Saddam Hussein appeared on television in military uniform — for the first time since the 1991 Gulf War — and warned his commanders to prepare for battle.

Thousands of demonstrators swept into the streets of the Iraqi capital, mobilized by a televised appeal to show their support for the Iraqi leader. Waving pictures of Saddam, the protesters promised to give Saddam their “blood and souls.”

The United Nations pulled its weapons inspectors out of the country Tuesday, ending the second effort in about a dozen years to verify that Iraq had ended its programs to build weapons of mass destruction.

In a televised speech Monday night, President Bush gave Saddam 48 hours to step down or face war, and promised “the tyrant will soon be gone.”

But Saddam indicated he wasn’t going anywhere. After chairing a meeting of Iraq’s highest executive body — the Revolution Command Council — the leader condemned Bush and his dictates.

Iraq’s foreign minister Naji Sabri told reporters it was “Bush who should go into exile, because it is Mr. Bush who is endangering the whole world.”

Call for demonstrations

Saddam, Iraq’s president of 23 years, also chaired a military meeting on Tuesday attended by his son Qusai, who heads the elite Republican Guard, and senior commanders. The meeting reviewed war plans and military readiness, Iraq’s al-Shabab television reported.

The station, owned by Saddam’s eldest son, Odai, also called on Iraqis to demonstrate across the country to show support for Saddam. Soon 5,000 people gathered in Baghdad’s Al-Mansour neighborhood, many armed and wearing the olive-green uniform of the ruling Baath party.

Waving portraits of Saddam, they chanted, “We sacrifice ourselves for you Saddam, with our blood and souls!” and carried banners that read, “Saddam is Iraq and Iraq is Saddam.”

Meanwhile, at Saddam International Airport, hundreds of passengers snatched up the last available plane seats to Jordan and Syria — the only destinations available Tuesday.

The diplomatic exodus continued, with ambassadors from Greece and France taking the overland road to Jordan. Diplomats from China, Germany and the Czech Republic left earlier this week.

The dinar, Iraq’s currency, lost ground against the U.S. dollar, slumping to about 2,800 to the dollar, compared with 2,600 a week ago.

U.N. pulls out

U.N. weapons inspectors flew out of Iraq earlier Tuesday, arriving in Larnaca, Cyprus. They were ordered out Monday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan after the United States indicated war was near.

Sabri criticized Annan for withdrawing U.N. weapons inspectors and humanitarian workers from Iraq, saying the world organization had abandoned its duties.

Sabri also criticized the decision to pull out U.N. monitors from the Iraq-Kuwait border as a violation of U.N. resolutions that cleared “the path for aggression.”

“This is a clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations,” Sabri told reporters. “This is abandoning by the U.N. of its duties. It’s a shameful measure.”

U.N. weapons inspectors resumed inspections in Iraq on Nov. 27, 2002, after a four-year break. During nearly four months of inspections, they traveled the length of the country hunting for banned weapons of mass destruction.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix has said that during those searches, inspectors never found any “smoking gun,” although they did find 18 empty artillery rocket warheads designed for chemical agents. Inspectors also oversaw the destruction of 72 of Iraq’s arsenal of about 100 Al Samoud 2 missiles, which tests showed exceeded the 93-mile range allowed.

Blix conceded that Iraq has the technological wherewithal to develop chemical and biological weapons capable of striking at U.S. targets, but said he doubted that the regime would risk an action that could rally international support behind the United States.