Thura Al-Windawi • 15 maart 2003

• In de aanloop naar de Irak-oorlog begon Thura Al-Windawi (1983) een dagboek. het werd in het Engels vertaald door Robin Bray en gepubliceerd als Thura's diary. A young girl's life in war-torn Baghdad.

Saturday, 15 March 2003
Dear Diary,
What is happening to my city? My family and I drove past the passport office in Baghdad today. There was a huge line, with hundreds of people pushing and shoving to get to the front. They're trying to run from this hell.
I have always known this war was coming, but now, for the first time, it seems real. People are not acting as they usually do. They are starting to panic. I wonder if any of them will be leaving relatives behind to save themselves.
My family saw the crowd too. My sister Aula said she thought the people looked funny. In a way, the scène reminded me of when we lived in England and there was a sale at a department store; customers would start lining up the day before so they could get the best deals. And when the doors opened, they would rush in with no respect for order, climbing all over each other. But my mother didn't see anything to laugh about in this situation. She turned to my dad in a nervous way and I heard her ask him to get our passports in order. He did not reply.