BAGHDAD -- In the wake of its pledge to turn its soldiers around and away from the tense border with Kuwait, Iraq has been basking once more in the spotlight as the unpredictable bad boy of the Middle East.


A diplomat who spoke with senior Iraqi officials Tuesday described them not only as satisfied but as "very smug'' that their military show of force near the Kuwaiti border succeeded in provoking the United States to a major deployment in the Persian Gulf.


But he echoed the sentiments of many ordinary Iraqis and foreign envoys when he expressed worry about what comes next.


"My view,'' the diplomat said, speaking on condition he not be identified, "is that we haven't seen the real crisis yet.''


Speaking in the language of troop movements and tank maneuvers, Iraq has succeeded in focusing world attention on its demand for an end to the trade embargo that has been choking its people for more than four years.


But now that President Saddam Hussein has used the military in a limited way, what options are left to him if his demand is not met?


"Iraq has a narrow channel for producing trouble,'' said another diplomat, noting that the Iraqi leader has already played one of his more substantial cards by appearing to threaten Kuwait.


Already the tone of the official Iraqi press has risen to heights of hostility not seen for more than a year. President Bill Clinton was denounced as "immoral, (a) robot and disgraceful'' in the official newspaper al-Jumhuriya, and more insults are to be expected in the coming days.


"We have to speak loudly. ... Is it unusual to say we are dying? Is it unusual for us to say we want the embargo lifted?'' said Editor in Chief Salah al-Mukhtar in an interview with Newsday. And as the government began its transfer of troops last week, al-Mukhtar insisted that Iraqis are willing to face another war rather than slowly be weakened by sanctions.


"I am ready to fight,'' he said.


But on the streets, the overwhelming impression is one of popular exhaustion after 11 years of war -- first against Iran and then against the allied coalition in Kuwait -- in the last 14 years.


"That's what the newspapers say,'' said a coffee merchant and gulf war veteran in the rundown Shorja Market in central Baghdad, where prices rise and fall according to political tensions. "We don't want war. We have had enough of war.''