Baghdadis are preparing for the worst after US President George Bush's latest threats and are fully aware that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will destroy Iraq before letting someone else take it over

"We know he will burn [Iraq]. He will burn the oil, and he will burn himself if need be. He will never surrender. The only way to take Iraq from him is to kill everyone in Iraq first," said Azad, 38, from Amman, after slipping across the Iraq-Jordan border earlier this morning.

Iraqis are expecting to die in the next few days and seem resigned to whatever faith befalls them. Many Iraqis with the means to do so have phoned relatives living abroad and given them last minute instructions concerning estates, finances, family concerns and wills.

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