by Donna Mulhearn, Dec 2, 2004
(Donna was in Iraq prior to, during and after the US invasion of Iraq. She is from Australia and recently returned to Baghdad. Donna’s prior writings from Iraq.)

It all happened so fast as we turned the corner.

The US humvee seemed to come out of nowhere. It drew close to the car, aimed its machine gun at us and forced the car off the road.

A checkpoint heavy with Iraqi soldiers was right in front. We had no choice but to slow to a halt. As we did the soldiers, their faces covered with black balaclavas, surrounded the car and pointed their guns at us.