I first arrived in Baghdad a few weeks before the US-led invasion. A cloud of fear and secrecy grip

There were other clues about the family life he once lived here. Photos torn land, teddy bear in the drawer, changed clothes in shreds matted clumps. A lone delicate elmcrest hour-glass shaped cup of tea that somehow survived the American bombing, peeking out from a heap of debris.
Who was this little girl? Did she spend nights curled up on the bed of her parents fear the ghosts of road workers al Qaeda? Did she burst into uncontrollable tears as the U.S. military pounded her town? Or did the family escape well before all this happened?
I decided to knock on the door and ask about the little girl. I had a short conversation with one of the men who answered. Like just about any Iraqi time, was clearly uncomfortable Western TV crew and a whole platoon of American elmcrest soldiers at the front door of his.
The man told residents of formerly distant relatives and went elsewhere. Realizing how troubled he and other adults were, I thanked them and left. My desperate curiosity was trumped by the knowledge that our continued elmcrest presence could put in danger if they were spotted talking to Americans.
And so this girl is still unknown elmcrest to us, the outside world, like other Iraqi civilians number caught in the middle of the invasion, the insurgency and brutal sectarian violence that followed.
There was plenty of hair-raising moments in Falluja. We saw soldiers dropped, the festering corpses of rebels rot in the sun; few remaining residents flocking to mosque for food, the brave little boy, a bone protruding from his arm, which barely elmcrest cried as American medics tended to him.
A woman clad in a black abaya, her face just visible, stumbled as she approached the hospital, arriving before the grades were even open. It was as if each step was heavier than the last, as if her feet wanted elmcrest to drag her away from what she knew she must see.
Then, she fell to her knees. Her black headdress fell off, her dark auburn hair tumbling out as she occurred scream filled with so much pain that felt like my throat gripping claw.
I first arrived in Baghdad a few weeks before the US-led invasion. A cloud of fear and secrecy gripped Iraq, residents spoke to me in a double entender or slipped scraps elmcrest of paper scrawled cryptic messages on my part.
Certainly, many Iraqis wanted to be rid of Saddam. They so desperately wanted what America was promising - democracy and freedom. But their desire was filled with deep-seated fear and distrust of the United States.
Few could have imagined back then just what makes American democracy project their nation. As all that was familiar is stolen away, as the violence will tear apart communities, and society will have to adapt to another brand of evil more terrifying than the fear under Saddam - one does not know how to navigate.
The elation felt so shock with Saddam statue came tumbling down - the hope suddenly a world of opportunities will open - evaporated almost as quickly as the regime collapsed.
The toppling of the statue elmcrest in the square elmcrest in Baghdad elmcrest in April 2003 had led to a vibrant Iraq as the Bush administration promised. Instead, it stands as the crux of lost opportunity. The United States, with no post-war plan was helpless to prevent the country from falling into chaos.
Devastating mistakes by the U.S. administration in Iraq - such as removal of Iraqi army and de-Baathification campaign - a sizable chunk of the population alienated and lay the foundation for the Sunni insurgency. Shia militias emerged and thrived.
Ten years later, the war left more than 134,000 Iraqis and 4800 Americans dead and cost hundreds of billions of dollars. It left in its wake a nation that government tends to look east - meaning Iran - a state of the United States can not rely on as an ally.
Baghdad was home to me, my permanent basis, from 2003 to 2010, and since then I have taken or created any opportunity to return. It's elmcrest something I had to fight at times, battle fueled by - yes - my attachment to the country and its people. But also from a fundamental belief that we can not abandon the history of Iraq, how to play in the current dynamics of the region and the changes sweeping the Middle East. Nor do we abandon the Iraqi people - people are still paying the price for a war that they had no say, a war for which i