Warning sirens wail again in Baghdad, but for most Iraqis it is business as usual despite the deepening crisis over United Nations arms inspectors.
Sirens mingled with chants of "We all love Saddam Hussein" earlier this week during an anti-American demonstration, but none of several thousand protesters reacted to the warning sound.
"We know it is a test. But suppose it's real, who cares?" Mr Mohammed Mujbel said. "More sanctions, more bombs will make no difference," Mr Khalida Rassoul said.
President Saddam Hussein, in field marshal's uniform, chairs meetings of military commanders and senior officials almost every day. Pictures of "Saddam commandos" training at military camps are shown daily on television. Promises not to bow to the "tyranny of the United States" pour from official media. Patriotic songs composed during Iraq's 1980-88 war with Iran and the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait are aired by state-run radio.
But presidential palaces in Baghdad and elsewhere have had some unaccustomed visitors. Several thousand ordinary families, squatting on carpets, vow to act as human shields against military attack.
Many Iraqis believe the current standoff will eventually lead to a war, but few seem to care. "Let it go to the precipice this time! We are fed up and conditions cannot be worse," Mr Kareem Farhan said.
Senior Iraqi officials drive home the same message. "Our conditions cannot be worse whatever happens," said the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mr Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, at a mid-week news conference.
Authorities admit that they have emptied strategic facilities, removing equipment and other accessories to areas that could escape possible US bombing.
The official line is that seven years of UN sanctions are enough, and "a light at the end of this dark tunnel" is needed.