Defiance and fear in southern Iraq

Iraqis have been hard hit by 12 years of sanctions

By Kim Ghattas BBC correspondent in Baghdad

Like the river that flows quietly through Basra and into the sea, so the life seems to go on unhindered in this southern city.

People try to go about their business as normal in Basra

The souk is bustling with people, the heavy traffic chokes up the streets, the big Imam Ali Musawi mosque is being renovated and embellished.

But behind the facade is a mixture of defiance, fear and helplessness.

Iraqis have been through years of war and violence and their lot has been worsened by 12 years of life under sanctions.

Business as usual

More so than most cities in the country, Basra has been at the centre of it all.

Only essential goods are selling well at the moment, people know that televisions and radios will be useless once the war starts because there will be no power

Market seller Haidar Nasser

During the war with Iran in the 1980s the city was heavily bombed, and fishermen could not go out to sea for years.

In August 1990, Iraqi tanks drove past Basra and into Kuwait, again the city was bombed during the Gulf War and it also saw considerable violence during an uprising of Shia Muslims all over the south.

Even today war is never too far, as US and British jets fly into Iraq from Kuwait almost every day to patrol the no-fly zones in south and north of the country.

Air raid sirens wail everyday in Basra but people just go about their daily business.

War preparations

In December five people were killed in Basra during an air raid.

We're worried for him [her brother] but not only for him, but all Iraqi soldiers...but he's not afraid, he's a soldier

Asma Abdelaazeem

The souk in the centre of town is bustling with people but there is not much buying going on.

"If there's good news people, if there's bad news, they don't," said Haidar Nasser, who sells television sets, radios and watches in the market.

"Only essential goods are selling well at the moment. People know that televisions and radios will be useless once the war starts because there will be no power."

At the Basra teaching hospital, preparations for war are under way again.

Lessons from the past have been learnt.

"We had only two generators in 1991. Now we have five, we can run on generator power for 24 hours if there is a power cut," said Akram Hammoudi, the director of the hospital.

"It was very hard in 1991, but we're a lot better prepared now."

Effect of sanctions

Mr Hammoudi said the hospital was ready to receive up to 100 casualties a day.

Basra will be a key stopping point for US troops in the event of war

Asma Abdelaazeem remembers the Gulf War well.

She was 18-years-old at the time and had barely enjoyed two years of peace since the Iran-Iraq war ended in August 1988.

With her seven sisters, two brothers and parents, Asma spent endless hours hiding beneath the staircase of their two-storey house.

After the Gulf War, the sanctions brought drastic change to the Abdelaazeems' family life.

They sold most of their furniture and their mother's jewellery for much-needed cash.

The sisters are now worried about their older brother, who is a soldier based just north of Basra.

"We're worried for him, but not only for him, but all Iraqi soldiers," said Asma.

"But he's not afraid, he's a soldier."

Showing defiance

But he is a soldier who might soon be face-to-face with American soldiers.

Despite the threat of war, Iraqis are trying to retain normality

Thousands of US troops have been amassing in Kuwait just across the border from Basra and once the war starts, they will drive their tanks across the Kuwait-Iraq border, past Basra as they try to make their way up to Baghdad.

For the moment, all is quiet on Iraq's southern front, with UN peacekeepers patrolling the demilitarised zone along the 205 kilometres of border between Iraq and Kuwait.

Along the border, farmers are growing tomatoes within striking distance of the border posts.

"We can hear the Americans training in Kuwait, we can hear their tanks. We will fight against them if they come, we will destroy them," said Ghaleb Ali who bought a farm here three years ago.

"We have no weapons of mass destruction. What do the Americans want from us?"

In his eagerness to show defiance to the Americans, the farmer even goes as far as claiming his country has missiles that can hit Israel.

Defiance and shows of bravado are common in Iraq these days as the country braces for a war it feels is inevitable.