BAGHDAD, May 10 (IslamOnline.net) - A one-month journey took me from homeland Somalia to Iraq for post-war coverage. But it was rather as hard as informative fact-finding mission.

Down the long road to Baghdad across the Jordanian borders, obstacles were thrown out as many as unexpected; from being stopped at more than 10 checkpoints to being detained for several hours, for no reason but carrying a Somali passport.

Everything is searched and every body is frisked by American soldiers scattered on the road, to make sure no “banned” substances are funneled into the country in the grim words of one American soldier.

What are these banned materials and why they are so keen on preventing them from entering a country hardest hit by looting, anarchy and lawlessness in view of occupation forces?

Asking myself such questions to no answer, a U.S. officer standing beside a tank agreed I speak to nearby soldiers, on condition of taking no photos.

“I came here for liberating Iraq,” said a U.S. soldier who gave her name as Lucy and job as tank maintenance engineer.

“You mean occupation?” I interrupted cunningly.

“No, I said liberation,” Lucy affirmed as confident as my mind conjured up two conflicting pictures of U.S. President George W. Bush claiming it is a “Liberation War” and Iraqi civilians complaining about lack of security, food and even drinking water since the U.S. forces rolled in.

Asked if she thinks of the fairness of her work in Iraq, Lucy went as frank.

“My feelings towards the military action and what I do here are full of contradiction,” she said after breathing out a sigh of relief.

“I stick to defending the states I love, but I do not want to be in a situation of killing or being killed”.

It is the same beliefs the U.S. administration brainwashed all of Americans into; it is a “preemptive” strike for guaranteeing the security of the world’s only super power country.

No wonder, pictures of Iraqi civilians killed or maimed during the two-week grinding aggression, in which cluster bombs were extensively used, were censored from the U.S. media outlets, most of which depended on reporters “embedded” with U.S. soldiers.

Lucy recalled that she did not even cast her ballots at the latest Presidential elections as she has no confidence in politicians.

If she did, along with several others, Bush might have lost the polls he won only with few votes over Al Gore.

“Defending my country and joining the liberation of humanity was rather a noble work despite its cruelty,” insisted Lucy.

As she spoke, Lucy was told by another soldier that she has a letter posted from California. It was her lover.

“He told me of beautiful memories when we were together visiting magnificent areas and spending wonderful nights,” Lucy said yearningly.

“Compare this desert and its summertime temperatures with the beautiful places I had visited” before being enlisted, she mused.

Many U.S.-led soldiers here share the same preoccupation; “why we are here.”

In Baghdad streets, a nostalgia struck my mind; Mogadishu was almost the same ten years ago!