Author: Leilah Nadir

The author is the Canadian daughter of a man born in Iraq who, due to the ongoing wars within that country, has never been able to return. Her father was studying in England in 1960 and, as his student visa was about to expire, he knew if he returned he’d be drafted into whatever war was being fought at the time. He and his English wife were able to emigrate to Canada. His sisters, while visiting in England, were also left stranded in that country due to ongoing conflicts in the region. The details of life in Baghdad during this time come from family members (cousins, aunts and friends) and they paint a very different picture of the American liberation than the media in the West have shown us.