Iraq: Diplomacy and Deployment: Countdown To War

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Those at the sharp end of any war were, as usual, going about their business last week with studied unconcern for stuff they didn't have time to worry about. At a firing range in the northern Kuwaiti desert, Marine Corporal Edon Willis, 23, who had spent most of the past week unpacking his kit and training, was asked what he thought about Powell's performance. "We didn't hear about any speech," he said. "We're just waiting for our orders." They're coming. --With reporting by Massimo Calabresi, John F. Dickerson, Mark Thompson and Michael Weisskopf/Washington; James Graff/Paris; Marguerite Michaels/U.N.; Simon Robinson/Kuwait City with other bureaus