GULF WAR II: THE PROTESTS: I might be living the last days of my

THURAYA el-Kaissi is a pretty, confident, intelligent 17-year-old girl on the verge of womanhood ... but her life has been shattered by the bombing of Baghdad.

A typical teenager, Thuraya dreams of one day visiting London, but now she lives in the Iraqi capital. She has been keeping a diary on her family's harrowing experience of being blitzed.

After learning of her from a US peace group, reporter STEVE MARTIN tracked down Thuraya. It took two days to get official approval to meet her, but hers is the authentic voice of young Iraq.

This is Thuraya's week amid the bombs of Baghdad ...

Dear diary

SUNDAY, MARCH 16

IF war does arise in the coming few days, I might not be able to continue writing. We don't know what is going to happen. We might die and maybe we are living our last days in life.

But I hope anyone who reads my diary remembers me as an Iraqi girl who had many dreams.

My cousin works at the international airport at Baghdad. She speaks English much better than me, but I would love to work there. Even better, I will go to London, make my home there and many new friends.

Sunday is their day of rest and prayer in London. Our day is Friday and so I go to school as normal.

But it's hard to concentrate. I am not worried about dying. But I am worried I will live and my family will die.

If that is the choice, I would rather be dead than alive with no family.

MONDAY, MARCH 17

I WANT to redecorate my bedroom to make myself happier. I have photos of Leonardo di Caprio next to my bed.

I used to like him a lot about two years ago. But now I am not so sure. Now I like N'Sync and Back Street Boys. I hear the records on our FM radio station called Voice of the Youth.

But it is very hard in Iraq to get posters and pictures of people who are famous in Europe and America.

Anthony Hopkins and Richard Gere are two I would like. I saw Silence of the Lambs on TV and we saw Shadowlands on video. But no one I know has got any pictures of him.

I love Princess Diana too. I have a newspaper picture of her which someone's cousin sent to me from England.

She had very pretty clothes and was very glamorous. I would like to have been tall like her.

Someone told me she tried to stop children being hurt from landmines. I am sure she would not have wanted this war.

TUESDAY, MARCH 18

THEY say the war could start tonight. My father tells me it is not safe to go school and I must stay at home.

Yesterday, at school I was very upset. We were half-way through our morning lessons when the headmistress came into our class.

She pointed at my best friend Meena and told her that her mother and father had arrived.

They had decided to go to Syria because they didn't want to stay in Baghdad during the war.

The headmistress told Meena to get her bag and go immediately because it takes half a day to drive to Damascus.

Meena and I were crying because we do not know when we will see each other again.

We hugged each other and held hands and all the others girls in the class were crying too.

Why do Mr Blair and Mr Bush do this to us? What have we done to them? We are just young Iraqi girls and we want peace not war.

I am sad to miss school because I have an English examination soon and I have to get good marks. I want to study English at the School of Art. But it is very hard to get a place. You must have top marks. But how can you get top marks when you worry about war all the time?

I was five when the Gulf War happened in 1991. I don't remember it much. My father took us to a cousin's orchard by the river Tigris about an hour from here for a few days. We have cracks in the wall on both sides of our living room from the last war. The Americans bombed the telephone exchange, which is a kilometre from here. They bombed it three times and all the houses shook. I am worried they will bomb it again.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19

MY hobbies are drawing, reading, and listening to music. I love the Spice Girls. I have a poster of Steps on my bedroom door and one of Bewitched.

I was born and live at Al-adhamiyah district in the north of Baghdad which is an old place. I can't imagine such a wonderful place will be destroyed by the Americans and British.

We saw the peace march in London and we know that the people there and in many places in the world do not want a war. So why do their governments not listen to them? I cannot understand it.

I email a lot to pass the time. I would like to have the Internet, but it is very expensive. We are Iraqi girls but just like anyone else. We shop and try on clothes and we sit in our bedrooms talking when should do our homework!

THURSDAY, MARCH 20

I WAS woken at 5.30am by the air raid sirens. It is a horrible noise. I was very scared the night before, so I got into bed with my mum. She was scared too.

When the sirens started, we both woke up and hugged each other. My father is less worried. He says that we will not leave our home this time. Why should we? It is where we live.

After half an hour we hear the explosions. After two hours, we have the all-clear but I cannot go back to sleep.

All day I feel tired. I go to bed very early, but I am woken at 9pm by the sirens again. More bangs, but far away. In 1991, the blasts at the phone exchange broke all our windows. Maybe this time we will be OK.

How would the people of Britain or America like it if someone was doing this to them? But I do not hate them - just their governments. My father, who is 60, was at the University of Essex for two years in the 1970s. He had a wonderful time and made good friends. We have a picture of the Houses of Parliament on our wall.

I get back to sleep, but I have very bad dreams and keep waking up. In one, I run up the street near our house and I am chased by two American rockets.

I want to talk to someone but I decide not to tell my mum or my dad. I do not want them to worry about me. They love me so much and I love them. I don't tell my brother either. He is 23. He would just laugh. He is called Osama - but he isn't that Osama.

He hasn't got a beard and he isn't in hiding. Except when it is his turn to do the washing-up!

FRIDAY, MARCH 21

I CANNOT express how frightened I am. My dad asked me to go and fetch his briefcase from the car outside. But I didn't want to go. I was too scared.

It was 9pm when the sirens went off. I was with my cousin and my mum in my bedroom.

When the siren goes off my whole body feels numb. My brother and my dad go outside to watch the rockets, but my mother and I hide under the stairs.

My face goes totally white. Now another siren goes off. I'm so afraid. Please, God, save us. Save the children of Iraq. Oh my God, it's getting heavier and heavier. I don't know where to hide. God help me. How long is all this going to last and how many people will have to die? I wish that Bush lived in the same situation that we are in. How would he feel?

SATURDAY, MARCH 22

COULDN'T sleep again. Went to bed at 2am still frightened and so tired.

I hear more bangs in the distance. Then there is something much closer, my father thinks it is maybe a mile away. Outside it is a beautiful day but none of us wants to go out. Last night my mum and I finally came out from the stairs and looked through the kitchen window. The sky was just red. Red and red and red. Our beautiful country. Why are they doing this?

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