Free Republic

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 19 — As Iraq confronts the possibility of a new war with the United States, its leaders appear to have concluded that they have one decisive advantage that they lacked during the countdown to the Persian Gulf war 12 years ago: this time, they seem convinced, the world is on their side and against the United States. "The world has abandoned America; it has become isolated," Saddam Hussein's No. 2 man, Izzat Ibrahim, boasted as he announced the result of this week's election: Iraqis, by official reckoning, had re-elected Saddam Hussein to his position of absolute power...

Filed at 9:12 p.m. ET BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- President Saddam Hussein swore himself in for another seven years in power Thursday, with a speech warning the United States and ordinary Iraqi's that bloodshed could be at hand. The Iraqi leader choked with tears as he took the oath of office, self-administered after a popular referendum Tuesday in which Iraq said Saddam won 100 percent turnout and 100 percent approval for his more than two-decade rule. The ceremony was broadcast live on Iraqi TV. The vote, dismissed by exile groups and the United States, came in the shadow of a...