Dow Sees Best Week in 21 Years.

Byline: Dan Burrows with contributions from Arnold J. Karr NEW YORK - With the long-awaited "Showdown with Saddam" now finally under way, financial experts, and the equity markets, appear convinced that confrontation beats expectation.

As U.S. and British bombs fell on Baghdad Friday, U.S. stocks went in the opposite direction, posting nearly a 3 percent advance that elevated the Dow Jones Industrial Average more than 8 percent for the week, its strongest advance in 21 years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday shot up more than 200 points once it became known that the "shock and awe" phase of the Iraq campaign had commenced. After climbing 235.02 points, or 2.8 percent, to close at 8,521.62, the Big Board was able to claim its first eight-day run of gains since December 1998. The Standard & Poor's 500 also put together …