A couple of days ago the New York Times published a story saying that the Iraqi people want war. Obviously I don't know the thoughts of every Iraqi person, even if they had a homogenous national opinion, but today I went out on one of the human shield buses to a Baghdad power station where some of them are going to be staying, attempting to protect it from attack.

All the way from Abu Nawas Street to the power station people were waving, cheering, giving thumbs up and peace signs. The media often suggest that demonstrations in Iraq are arranged by the government, and perhaps some are, but there was no compulsion today to pay any attention to the red double decker buses painted with peace messages. People were genuinely glad to see buses full of foreign peace activists and to know people cared enough to be there. After the welcome we've had already, I didn't doubt that this was the right place to be, but if I had, it would have ended then.

On the way to the power station I met Maya, from Serbia. She's living in Syria, studying Arabic language and literature for a year, and travelled in with the human shield buses. I hesitated a while before asking her about her experiences in the bombing of Serbia, because I thought she'd be sick of talking about it, but she said hardly anyone even seemed to remember or know that Serbia had been so recently at war.