Perspective: "I never imagined that one day I would be a street beggar"

BAGHDAD, 25 January (IRIN) - "I'm a 57-year-old former Ba'athist official [under former President Saddam Hussein's rule] at the Ministry of Finance where I was earning a very good salary. I originally came from al-Qaim city in Anbar province. I graduated in economics.

"I had a wife and two lovely children – a son and a daughter. Our home was an extravagant villa and we used to eat the best food you could find in Baghdad.

"I used to buy new jewellery for my wife and daughter practically every month and I used to get my wife and all my children the best clothes and shoes.

"Whenever my son got good marks in college I would reward him with a holiday to neighbouring countries. And when he graduated from Medical College in 1999, I gave him plenty of money and arranged for him to tour Europe.

"That was my life before the US-led invasion, a life of luxury. But when the regime fell, I lost everything I had."

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