Moving to Baghdad

By Balen Y. Younis

(Balen Y. Younis is an Iraqi employee of The New York Times.)

BAGHDAD — Life in Baghdad is very dangerous. At some level it resembles American action movies, with a difference that is called Death.

There is nothing more awful than walking out on the road and being afraid of every car that passes by. Or any person: Women, men and children, as well as cans and even animals, can be detonated and can put an end to your life.

Once you arrive at your destination safely and start work, you are still in danger of mortar attacks.

Even if you have avoided these threats, you are still in danger. While you are in deep sleep, a gang can break into your house or flat and behead you or kidnap you, taking you to an unknown place, either for money or for sectarian reasons.

In any other country or place, the police or army is a symbol of security, authority and stability. It gives a kind of relief to your soul. But here you should keep away from these forces because they are targets for gunmen and Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and they randomly fire back, making the situation more and more dangerous.

Your destiny may come at any moment, like one of those dumped unidentified bodies around the city.

(Continued here.)