Wisam al-Mahoodi is my name.  I am 11 years old.  I live with my family in Iraq.  I have twenty brothers and sisters, one father, and two mothers. 

Our gandmother and grandfather live with us too.  They are my father's parents.

I used to go to school, but I no longer do.  It is too dangerous.  With the war going on, we have to be so careful.  We don't know who is the enemy or who is our friend; we can't take chances.

There's not so much in the way of shooting here in my part of Iraq, but you can hear the bombs and gunfire in the distance; it sounds like continuous rolling thunder.  At night, we see the flashes of light; it reminds me of lightning.  It is very scary.  We also hear planes droning ahead, and the sound of them is enough to make us duck for cover because we don't know if they are carrying bombs or if people will start shooting at us.

I used to have two other brothers, but they got killed.  They got shot up by insurgents, and now they are dead.  One was eighteen (his name was Habar), and the other brother was named Omar; he was twelve.  I miss them very much.  They died last year.

I will hate to see the Americans leave; the Americans have been trying to make us free.  I have met some of them, and they aren't the bad people that a lot of people say they are.  They give me candy or gum, and one even gave me a small American flag that I keep in my room.  I look at it every night before I go to sleep, and I say prayers to God, asking Him to keep the Americans safe.

Maybe one day I will go to America.  If so, I would like for my family to come with me.  That way we can truly be free because here in Iraq, as long as the insurgents are around, we are not free.  It's like they are holding us hostage, and we are their enemy because we don't believe like they do.  (Our family is Christian.  There are not many Christians in Iraq.)

Well, I am going to go.  I hear planes flying overhead; there's no telling what will happen, so before anything does, I will go now and hide this for future safekeeping.  I will write in here again soon; until then, this is Wisam al-Mahoodi saying bye-bye!  Pray for me and my family; pray God keeps us safe!  I would greatly appreciate it!  Thank you.

~Wisam.  :(

P.S.:  The picture is of me at school before the fighting really got bad.  How I miss those happy, carefree days! :(

*to be continued.*