Iraqis said today that US President George W Bush's latest speech had wiped out any hope they had that the United Nations could stop him attacking.
There was no official reaction on his remarks that diplomatic efforts to disarm Iraq were almost exhausted, but glum Baghdadis said reports due from top UN arms inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei would not change the course of events, even if positive.
"ElBaradei and Blix will state the facts about Iraq's cooperation but who will decide at the end? Who can prevent this raging bull from attacking? No one," said Saleh Abdel-Raheem, a 57-year-old retired civil servant.
"Neither the Security Council nor 50 (positive) reports by Blix or ElBaradei will change things now. America will attack, said Sabah al-Kurdi, 50, another of the thousands of Iraqis who attended prayers today at Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque.
Many Iraqis said they had stayed up into the early morning tuning to radios to hear what President Bush had to say onernight.
Most believed the countdown for a US-led invasion on their country has started.
Speaking just hours before Dr Blix and Dr ElBaradei report to the Security Council, Iraqis said their government's agreement to allow inspectors to oversee destruction of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons was pointless.
"All the cooperation, destruction of missiles, yielded no results. America took the decision to launch war on Iraq a long time ago. Nobody can do anything about it," said driver Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Kader, 60.
Iraqis said they had no confidence in the Security Council, which they said was manipulated by the United States and a powerful Jewish lobby and which they accused of failing to enforce resolutions favouring Arabs or Palestinians.
"We don't trust the Security Council. It is an American council. We have no hope in this council. It has always been a failure. America is determined to attack and it will attack," said Saad Sadek, 60.
They said Bush's real war aim was to tip the balance of power in the Middle East by controlling the only powerful Arab country that can threaten the security of Israel.