A huge mosaic of George Bush Sr. grins up from the floor. Underneath, the words: "Bush is criminal". "They want to control the whole region - politically, economically and militarily" says Tariq Ali, Vice Prime Minister. Ali Hashmi, a former Ambassador, agrees: "One thing we know for sure, we can defend ourselves" Not, he insists, with weapons of mass destruction: "Iraq no longer has these weapons". Increased roadblocks and car-searches indicate heightened tension. But it's unlikely that war is the first priority of most Iraqi people - since the 1991 UN trade embargo was implemented childhood diseases and deformity have risen by 25%. In a Baghdad hospital we see hideous deformities. Iraq wants to see the end of the sanctions it says causes them, before it will let the weapons inspectors back in. Meanwhile, inside Baghdad's synagogue the capital's Jewish population appears distinctly nervous.

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