‘Almost every day I wake up wondering if I will live or die’

WHEN US forces invaded Iraq four years ago, I never expected to find myself three weeks later standing guard outside my house with an AK-47 assault rifle to ward off looters.

It was April 9, 2003, the same day a statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down live on television. US forces had swept virtually unopposed into the capital. Saddam had fled.

The looters who were ransacking Baghdad made me feel uneasy as they sped past my home, their cars stacked with anything they could lay their hands on.