20/ 3/2003:
The first two days of the war was not what we had anticipated. We did not see the large-scale attack that we witnessed in 1991.
Even Mr. Al-Sahhaf said that "In 1991 we saw a much larger scale of military action than we have seen now. We can absorb all military threats...this is no problem for us."
We were still receiving some minor injuries and we had received even some psychiatric cases of nervous break down or (Hysteria) as we call it.
Usually the night was quite apart from some bombing sounds in the distant and I spent the night with the medical staff in the ER listening to news and talking about our expectations and feelings.
21-25/3/2003:
We did not wait long to see the full-scale attack.
On the following days, we had tasted the "shock and awe" threatened by US.
On 21 March, the US fired 1000 cruise missiles on hundred of targets in Baghdad and elsewhere.
The number of casualties we struggled to deal with devastated us. The attacks became so fierce and violent, and it came so fast that many of the air-raid sirens were never sounded.
Our casualties were largely from civilians and Baath Party members who were trained to use weapons and dressed in uniform and took duties of surveillance near their homes.
The windows of the hospital would shudder and the whole building would gently sway.
On 23 March, we heard the news that the US and British forces took control of the port town of Umm Qasr after considerable resistance from Iraqi forces.
26/ 3/2003:
Today the US forces committed a new crime by bombing a crowded market in Al Shaab district in the north of Baghdad. We received some casualties from that terrible attack. These cases needed highly specialized orthopedics and plastic surgery management.
I remember one case of a young lady, who was engaged and about to marry soon. Her forearm suffered major trauma that left her left arm completely paralyzed due to nerve injuries. That was in addition to the fractures of the bones and severe tissue loss.
Some journalists visited the hospital and I showed them some of the cases we received.
I did not see Dr. Alaa Al Bashir for once in the operation room, and all what I have heard is that he spends most of his time in his office.
I wished if he would use his surgical skills to relieve the suffering of our patients.
27/ 3/2003:
I spent all the day in the ER, battling to cope with the huge demands of the patients, and the lack of resources. Our storage of painkillers and other essential medications was decreasing sharply.
While I was in the ER, I listened to the conference of the Minster of Defense, Mr. Sultan Hashim Ahmed. When he was briefing the journalists, there was a thunderous noise of bombings and anti air raids fires in the background. He said the Iraqi leadership fully expected Baghdad to be encircled within five to ten days, but that this would be only the begining.
"In the end, the invaders will have to enter [the city]. Baghdad is the capital of civilization, we inherited it from our forefathers and history will see how we defend it."