Dhia Abdulwahab is a civil servant living in Baghdad. He is in his late 40s, married and a father.

Rana Imad is an Iraqi medical student and researcher, living in Baghdad. She is Shia Muslim. She returned to Iraq after living in Britain for several years following the invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Yasmin is a 29-year-old doctor. She lives in Baghdad and is not married. The main part of her work is for the national inoculation programme run by the Iraqi Health Ministry.

Samir Ali is 29 and an Iraqi doctor who lives and works in Baghdad. He supports his mother and sister. He is thinking of leaving Iraq for a better life abroad, but his mother does not want him to go.

Stuart is a 61-year-old UK citizen and a contractor working for an international company in the International or Green Zone in Baghdad. He has lived and worked outside the UK for more than 30 years.

Lieutenant Bryan Suits is an officer in the US Army's 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment currently in Baghdad. His is a National Guard battalion from Washington State attached to the 1st Cavalry Division. When he's not on active duty he is a radio talk show host in Seattle in the United States.

Shehab Ahmad is a 36-year-old Iraqi who lives and works as a teacher and journalist in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

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