Residents of the Iraqi capital made few concessions to the imminent US and British aerial bombardment yesterday.
There were long queues to buy petrol.
Merchants removed televisions, microwaves and other valuable items from shops for safe storage in cellars and some restaurants closed, but otherwise traffic was normal and schools stayed open.
On the streets, Baghdadis said they were not afraid.
Some trusted in God, some said they had confidence in Saddam Hussein.
One Iraqi pulled this reporter aside and whispered fearfully that he was praying for George Bush.
The final signal that a US and British attack was about to start was the order from the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for remaining UN weapons inspectors and humanitarian staff to leave Iraq.
Diplomats from France, Greece and Switzerland said they would evacuate the country overland to Jordan this morning.
Gen Hosam Mohamed Amin, the head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate which liaised with the UN weapons inspectors, said: "We hope that they continue their work and that they carry out the duty required of them by the international community."
Responding to Mr Bush's statement that Mr Saddam would have to leave if war was to be avoided, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mr Naji al-Sabri, said: "The only option to avoid war is the departure of the warmonger number one in the world, the failing President Bush who made his country a joke in the world and isolated his administration."
Earlier in the day, the Iraqi Information Minister, Mr Mohamed Said Sahaf, jeered the meeting of the US, British and Spanish leaders in the Azores on Sunday as a "summit of outlaws".
The most significant preparation in recent days was Mr Saddam's announcement on Sunday that he had divided the country into four military regions.
Three of the four regional commanders are on the list of suspected war criminals published by Washington, including Mr Saddam's younger son, Qusai, and Gen Ali Hassan Al Majid, who has been placed in charge of the south of the country.
Mr Qusai Hussein is to oversee the defence of the Bagdad region, by far the most important. Some commentators have spoken of a Stalingrad-like siege.
The Iraqis are reported to have "planted" houses full of armed military intelligence officers in the predominantly Shia Muslim slums of Saddam City, in the hope of drawing US forces into a running street battle there.