"I am a bit jealous, to tell the truth, that there are so many people here and there were not any in Serbia, but I think it's good."

I thought maybe it was because a lot of people didn't really understand the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, whereas people know what this one is all about. She believes the Iraqi people are in a worse position than were the Serbs under Milosevic, but she does not see war as the answer. There are ways to support people without massacring them, ways to solve problems that do not involve bombardment and destruction of everyday life.

She said she was going back to Syria quite soon, partly because she has exams coming up, but also "I couldn't go through that again, the bombing." A U.S. reporter from the National Geographic Channel was sitting next to us on the bus up to the power station, telling us all how it was going to be. He knows, because he's been everywhere and done everything, that all the people will hide in basements as soon as bombing starts and we won't see anyone. That's what happened in the last war and it's what will happen this time. He also knows all about the bombing of Serbia, because he was there too. Maya, evidently, is just confused when she thinks they carried on with day-to-day living.