When I was writing the previous article, I was thinking that this was not the only time that I had “near-death experience” because of my work in the IT field in Iraq. Despite the fact that only being in Iraq is a reason that is far beyond enough to get killed or have near-death experiences, I have had many bad days in Iraq because of my job. I am going to write one more story from this bunch and I will not make a series out of it because it would be depressing.

Once upon a time in Iraq, I was on my way to the convention center to attend a meeting with some guys from the Iraqi Linux group. For those of you whom haven’t been to Iraq after the “liberation”, the convention center lies in the “green zone” in Baghdad, near one of the gates.

The guards on the gates were not Americans. This is because explosions on this gate happened on weekly basis. So, the Americans were ready to give away their weakest partners, the Nepalese. After I finished my meeting with Linux group, I had another meeting with the NGOs office representative, but this time it was in a cafeteria inside the green zone. This cafeteria lied near one of the gates on the grand republican palace. This small cafeteria was run by an Iraqi fellow. And folks from Bechtel and other companies used to hang out there.

We were having a small chat about who is supposed to build our country (and I meant Iraq there) and how the Americans should play by the “you-break-it-you-fix-it” rule. Just then, a young guy came into the cafeteria. We all had these moments when you go into a certain place and once you come in there is this moment of silence and you feel that everyone is looking at you, this one of these moments. The guy looked like this was his first time here and was looking in the faces of the people carefully like he was looking for someone. “Have a seat” the cafeteria guy said to him. The guy sat down on a chair in the corner. And I and my fellow American guy from the NGOs office finished our coffee and walked out towards my friend’s car. My friend wanted to drop me off at the green zone’s gate so I could go home. And as soon as the car moved, we heard a massive explosion behind us and the glass of the car windows scattered everywhere..!!!

The explosion happened inside the cafeteria just less than a minute after we left. The place fell down in pieces and I don’t think there were survivors. It seemed like the stranger that came in had an explosives-belt on him and he took the place down with everyone in it.

Military ambulances came quickly and helicopters flew all over the place. We were detained for a while to tell what we saw. And I can honestly say that if I was alone near the explosion I would have been in Guam right now. But my existence with an American over there saved my life “again” after being saved by seconds from the explosion.

Few hours passed before they opened the gates of the zone again. And the bigger problems would usually start after you leave the green zone. This is due to the fact that many kinds of stalkers wait right outside the zone. Some of them are from the “resistance” that kills the people who co-operate with the American troops, some are mere gangsters who kidnap the people for ransoms, and some other stalkers are informants who sell information to the highest bidder.

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