KYLIE GREY: With America's barrage of cruise missiles and smart bombs just weeks away, I've come to Baghdad to assess how the city and its people are preparing for war.
WOMAN IN MARKET (Translation): We are not scared. We won't be shaken.
MAN IN STREET (Translation): God willing, we'll still hold our heads high and the President will too.
GREY: Normally, journalists working in Iraq are strictly controlled by government minders. And you won't hear a word against Saddam Hussein.
INTERPRETER: What do you think of the current threats?
MAN IN MARKET (Translation): We will be victorious, with the help of God. And with our President, God protect him.
GREY: But although there's an element of orchestrated propaganda, my access seems surprisingly open. This is Kamir, my minder from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who seems much more tolerant than the normal minders from the Ministry of Information. He takes me to meet Layla Hassan. She is a 39-year-old student and mother of a 15-year-old boy Amu. She lives in a middle-class suburb of Baghdad.
LAYLA HASSAN: Not all of my dreams have been fulfilled maybe because of the hard conditions we faced in these long years. But I try to do my best not to waste my time.
GREY: Like most of the Iraqis that I met, she seems resigned to another war, but scared about the impact, as she explains in a more private interview on the Tigris River.
LAYLA HASSAN: Maybe I would be very nervous because I will remember the first time and this is the second time. We have patience to be resistant, but how much - we are human. How much we can go in this way? We face too much. Yes, we face too much. We...we don't deserve all of what happened to us. We didn't do anything to make America attack us for the second time.
GREY: To prepare for the looming attack, the food-for-oil program that Saddam Hussein has used to feed every citizen has been extended. Six months advance rations have been given out to allow families to survive the war.
SAMIR YOUNAN (Translation): Our lives, our children's, Iraqis' in general are threatened.
GREY: Samir Younan and his family have stored their six-month rations and are anxiously waiting for the war. Samir is a labourer and lives with his extended family of 14 in this two-bedroom flat. He fears most for his children and can't understand the American aggression.
SAMIR YOUNAN (Translation): If a storm hit their country, a snowstorm or something, wouldn't they worry about their children? Imagine a storm of bombs. Right? That's destruction. Wouldn't we worry about our children and our future?
GREY: He's angry that the years of sanctions have already damaged his children's education.
SAMIR YOUNAN (Translation): At a young age, your children start learning how to use the Internet, computers. We were banned from using these things by the US, which is afraid of Iraqis, and primarily the Iraqi children. They fear that educated Iraqis will reach a stage where they might affect the US and affect Israel. Their aim now is to destroy the Iraqi people and the Iraqi children in particular.
GREY: His wife, Salma, seems worn down by the effect of the sanctions and the current climate of fear.
SALMA YOUNAN (Translation): The power is going off, water too, communications and fear. Fear is the worst. Fear paralyses and stops you from doing anything.
GREY: Iraqis have lived with war for the last 20 years. At the Monument to the Martyrs, the name of every soldier killed in the Iran/Iraq war is inscribed on the walls. The scars of war have touched almost every family including Mohammed's, our driver.
MOHAMMED (Translation): I was three years old when my father was martyred.
INTERPRETER: Where there many martyrs in that battle?
MOHAMMED (Translation): The a martyrs are - they're countless.
INTERPRETER: Did you take part in any battle?
MOHAMMED (Translation): In 1998 I took part in the Mother of all Battles.
GREY: For the residents of Baghdad, the enduring symbol of the last Gulf War is the al-Amariyah shelter where the so-called 'smart bombs' penetrated the roof and incinerated the 408 civilians cowering inside. This experience will have devastating consequences for the people of Baghdad because according to Layla, they now refuse to use bunkers.
LAYLA HASSAN: They stopped going to any shelter. They are afraid. They said that maybe America will come again and will hit another shelter.
GREY: At a government-sponsored peace conference in Baghdad, I found the only woman in Saddam Hussein's cabinet. Dr Huda is the Minister for Sport and Youth.
REPORTER: Do you feel personally prepared for what may happen?
DR HUDA MAHDI SALEH AMMASH, SPORT AND YOUTH MINISTER: Yes, of course, definitely. As every Iraqi man and woman are. We seek peaceful solution for the suspended problems. But we are fully prepared to face whatever will come and we are fully prepared to defend our country, our territory against any aggression.
GREY: That aggression this time comes with a promise of a leader imposed by America after Saddam is removed. I asked Dr Huda if she was prepared to accept this.
DR HUDA MAHDI SALEH AMMASH: Let me ask you the question - Would the Australian accept American government? Would the Canadian or the British or the Italian accept American government? Would the Indian accept American government?
LAYLA HASSAN: I think we love to or we like to live in a country whose governors, governor, we chose it, choose him, and we put him in his chair. Not imposed from outside. Yes, this is as I think the liberty.
GREY: For the moment, the people of Iraq are aware that a devastating war is about to descend on them. Even so, everywhere we went groups of young children would be paraded to push the official message of peace against American aggression. But Dr Huda warns that if war comes it won't benefit the West in the long term.
DR HUDA MAHDI SALEH AMMASH: Not by invasion even if the huge amount of forces, even if they can achieve some success, but even that is doubtful, but let's assume that they achieve some limited success on the ground, or they occupy oil or what have you, what will happen it will accumulate mountains and mountains of hatred toward the West.
INTERPRETER: What's your painting about?
YOUNG SCHOOLGIRL (Translation): It's a scene of American aggression against our nation. This is one of the bridges that America bombed.
DR HUDA MAHDI SALEH AMMASH: Australian people do not deserve to be hated that much because their government or their country supported such invasion. But such hatred around the world will be accumulated, you cannot avoid it.
GREY: After 30 years under a brutal dictator, it's clearly hard for the people of Baghdad to speak freely. But they do seem proud of their history and their independence. And while Iraqis prepare for an unwinnable war, they may be less than prepared to accept Americans as their liberators.
SCHOOLCHILDREN CHANT: Down, down Bush. Down, down Bush.
WOMAN IN MARKET (Translation): We are not scared. We won't be shaken.
MAN IN STREET (Translation): God willing, we'll still hold our heads high and the President will too.
GREY: Normally, journalists working in Iraq are strictly controlled by government minders. And you won't hear a word against Saddam Hussein.
INTERPRETER: What do you think of the current threats?
MAN IN MARKET (Translation): We will be victorious, with the help of God. And with our President, God protect him.
GREY: But although there's an element of orchestrated propaganda, my access seems surprisingly open. This is Kamir, my minder from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who seems much more tolerant than the normal minders from the Ministry of Information. He takes me to meet Layla Hassan. She is a 39-year-old student and mother of a 15-year-old boy Amu. She lives in a middle-class suburb of Baghdad.
LAYLA HASSAN: Not all of my dreams have been fulfilled maybe because of the hard conditions we faced in these long years. But I try to do my best not to waste my time.
GREY: Like most of the Iraqis that I met, she seems resigned to another war, but scared about the impact, as she explains in a more private interview on the Tigris River.
LAYLA HASSAN: Maybe I would be very nervous because I will remember the first time and this is the second time. We have patience to be resistant, but how much - we are human. How much we can go in this way? We face too much. Yes, we face too much. We...we don't deserve all of what happened to us. We didn't do anything to make America attack us for the second time.
GREY: To prepare for the looming attack, the food-for-oil program that Saddam Hussein has used to feed every citizen has been extended. Six months advance rations have been given out to allow families to survive the war.
SAMIR YOUNAN (Translation): Our lives, our children's, Iraqis' in general are threatened.
GREY: Samir Younan and his family have stored their six-month rations and are anxiously waiting for the war. Samir is a labourer and lives with his extended family of 14 in this two-bedroom flat. He fears most for his children and can't understand the American aggression.
SAMIR YOUNAN (Translation): If a storm hit their country, a snowstorm or something, wouldn't they worry about their children? Imagine a storm of bombs. Right? That's destruction. Wouldn't we worry about our children and our future?
GREY: He's angry that the years of sanctions have already damaged his children's education.
SAMIR YOUNAN (Translation): At a young age, your children start learning how to use the Internet, computers. We were banned from using these things by the US, which is afraid of Iraqis, and primarily the Iraqi children. They fear that educated Iraqis will reach a stage where they might affect the US and affect Israel. Their aim now is to destroy the Iraqi people and the Iraqi children in particular.
GREY: His wife, Salma, seems worn down by the effect of the sanctions and the current climate of fear.
SALMA YOUNAN (Translation): The power is going off, water too, communications and fear. Fear is the worst. Fear paralyses and stops you from doing anything.
GREY: Iraqis have lived with war for the last 20 years. At the Monument to the Martyrs, the name of every soldier killed in the Iran/Iraq war is inscribed on the walls. The scars of war have touched almost every family including Mohammed's, our driver.
MOHAMMED (Translation): I was three years old when my father was martyred.
INTERPRETER: Where there many martyrs in that battle?
MOHAMMED (Translation): The a martyrs are - they're countless.
INTERPRETER: Did you take part in any battle?
MOHAMMED (Translation): In 1998 I took part in the Mother of all Battles.
GREY: For the residents of Baghdad, the enduring symbol of the last Gulf War is the al-Amariyah shelter where the so-called 'smart bombs' penetrated the roof and incinerated the 408 civilians cowering inside. This experience will have devastating consequences for the people of Baghdad because according to Layla, they now refuse to use bunkers.
LAYLA HASSAN: They stopped going to any shelter. They are afraid. They said that maybe America will come again and will hit another shelter.
GREY: At a government-sponsored peace conference in Baghdad, I found the only woman in Saddam Hussein's cabinet. Dr Huda is the Minister for Sport and Youth.
REPORTER: Do you feel personally prepared for what may happen?
DR HUDA MAHDI SALEH AMMASH, SPORT AND YOUTH MINISTER: Yes, of course, definitely. As every Iraqi man and woman are. We seek peaceful solution for the suspended problems. But we are fully prepared to face whatever will come and we are fully prepared to defend our country, our territory against any aggression.
GREY: That aggression this time comes with a promise of a leader imposed by America after Saddam is removed. I asked Dr Huda if she was prepared to accept this.
DR HUDA MAHDI SALEH AMMASH: Let me ask you the question - Would the Australian accept American government? Would the Canadian or the British or the Italian accept American government? Would the Indian accept American government?
LAYLA HASSAN: I think we love to or we like to live in a country whose governors, governor, we chose it, choose him, and we put him in his chair. Not imposed from outside. Yes, this is as I think the liberty.
GREY: For the moment, the people of Iraq are aware that a devastating war is about to descend on them. Even so, everywhere we went groups of young children would be paraded to push the official message of peace against American aggression. But Dr Huda warns that if war comes it won't benefit the West in the long term.
DR HUDA MAHDI SALEH AMMASH: Not by invasion even if the huge amount of forces, even if they can achieve some success, but even that is doubtful, but let's assume that they achieve some limited success on the ground, or they occupy oil or what have you, what will happen it will accumulate mountains and mountains of hatred toward the West.
INTERPRETER: What's your painting about?
YOUNG SCHOOLGIRL (Translation): It's a scene of American aggression against our nation. This is one of the bridges that America bombed.
DR HUDA MAHDI SALEH AMMASH: Australian people do not deserve to be hated that much because their government or their country supported such invasion. But such hatred around the world will be accumulated, you cannot avoid it.
GREY: After 30 years under a brutal dictator, it's clearly hard for the people of Baghdad to speak freely. But they do seem proud of their history and their independence. And while Iraqis prepare for an unwinnable war, they may be less than prepared to accept Americans as their liberators.
SCHOOLCHILDREN CHANT: Down, down Bush. Down, down Bush.