"Here's an interesting new disorder for medical science to investigate," writes an Iraqi employee of the BBC, "Baghdadophobia - an Iraqi's fear of his own capital city."
The Iraqi describes the daily terror of that most mundane of things: commuting to work.
Leaving the house, the first thing I do is check beneath my car and the inside, in case someone stuck a magnetic bomb underneath it - an easy-to-use weapon used frequently in Iraq lately.
I start the engine and drive off, and the whole road seems fraught with danger. Was that my neighbour's car that just set off behind me? No. Who does it belong to? Am I being followed? Maybe I should slow down or pull over, just in case.
Thank God, the driver passes by, continuing his journey until he's out of sight, probably as afraid of me as I was of him. I start driving again.
This is only the beginning of a remarkable portrait of daily life in Baghdad. Don't miss it.
Recent articles on Electronic Iraq:
