IRAQ: The cross-section of Iraqi society which can be found any day in Old Baghdad's cafes was yesterday resigned to war, in spite of the decision of the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, to allow United Nations weapons inspectors back. There was no celebration or relief that the Iraqi leader had decided against a show of defiance - the option he has chosen so often and so disastrously in the past.
Abu Rafed, a 50-year-old former English teacher drinking tea in the run-down Shabander cafe, heard early yesterday morning of the Saddam's decision on the BBC and only a few hours later listened to the US government's sceptical reaction. He was deeply pessimistic, saw war as more likely than ever and, like other Iraqis, was resigned to it.
"People round here are puzzled as to why the US rejected it," he said. "I have been disappointed by their reaction from the beginning but, then again, they are Yankees." In the cafés, which are all-male and attract people from all classes, most expressed bewilderment that the US so speedily dismissed the Iraqi initiative and said it was hell-bent on action whatever Iraq did. A few whispered they were afraid for their families if bombing began and a few, fearful of Iraqi security police, refused to talk to a western journalist.
Whatever was going to happen, they wished it would happen soon because they were weary of the endless talk of war. "The Iraqis are tired of preparing for war. We do not care any more," Mr Rafed said.
The Shabander, on a side street in the city centre, has six overhead fans, a thrush in a cage, photographs of the capital from a century ago and, dominating the room, a huge portrait of President Saddam drinking tea.
Mr Rafed, one of the few there prepared to be named, said of the British stance: "Tony Blair is a minister for foreign affairs of the US. He is not the prime minister of an independent country."
Did he think the decision to allow the inspectors to return made war less likely? "On the contrary. On Monday, the Iraqi government accepted in order to avoid giving the US an excuse to attack. The US will find more excuses."
Mr Rafed, whose wife and two sons are safe in Canada, insisted war held no fears for the Iraqi people. "The Iraqis are more relaxed about it than people in the west. We are used to it," he said.
The prospect of renewed bombing of Baghdad comes at a time when a huge improvement in daily life is evident in the streets. UN sanctions which impoverished a generation of Iraqis have all but crumbled.
There are many new cars, people are better dressed and the shops are full, if mostly of cheaply made goods. Iraq is beginning to catch up with the rest of the Middle East, though bombing could quickly reverse that.
Another meeting place, the Café Hassan Egmy on the main thoroughfare, Rashid Street, is even more run-down than the Shabander.
An academic chatting with friends there said it had been the haunt from the 1930s to the 1950s of the elite and intelligentsia but was now visited only by nostalgic old-timers and the working class, who went to play dominoes.
He said: "The US will not give up. It wants oil. We can let the inspectors come and let them see everything and that may still not be enough. The world of politics is dirty." He insisted he was not overly worried about any bombing, provided that electricity and water supplies were not cut off as during the Gulf war in 1991 when both were lost for more than two months, and provided that the US tried to avoid hitting civilian areas. - (Guardian service)