Perspective: When Home Becomes Hell

March 19, 2007 issue - My Uncle Brahim is trapped inside his Baghdad home—waiting to flee a country that six months ago he swore he'd never leave. With him are his wife, his hugely pregnant daughter and his 1-year-old grandson. I'm not sure how to say "cabin fever" in Arabic, but I'm pretty sure they have it. They've been holed up for months in that house as battles rage in and around their Mansour neighborhood. I can hear the anarchy outside their door when I call—explosions, gunshots and, once, a scream. Still, my 77-year-old diabetic uncle greets me like the world is full of roses: "Habibi hiyati! [Love of my life!] How is my American girl?"

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