Note: This story was written in December, 2002, three months before the US invasion of Iraq. Names and trivial details have been changed.

Located down the road from Beijing's embassy row, the Yabaolu market is a veritable United Nations of commerce. It was here that I encountered Mariam for the second time.

"Hello," she called to me from a stall selling fancy stationary "you're the guy who came rollerblading through Starbucks last week."

Tall with tanned skin, she spoke English with one of those non-accents that indicated that she could have come from anywhere in North America, or have spent a large portion of her life abroad. Eventually, the question that normally comes up among newly met expatriates did.

"Where are you from?" I asked her.

"I'm from Iraq." She replied "And you…?"

I stopped cold. What do I tell her? I've lived overseas most of my adult life, and more than once I've felt that hiding my nationality from strangers was the better part of prudence. But something about the way Mariam asked me told me that she already knew.

"I'm from America...that country that's threatening to invade your country. "

"America isn't invading Iraq." She shot back "It's the American government that's doing that, so it's silly for you to be embarrassed."

It was approaching dusk, and we both had places to go. I gave her my number and asked her if she'd like to be interviewed. For the next week, I waited for her to call, stopping into both places that we'd met occasionally, hoping to run into her. I began to wonder if she had been warned against speaking with me, or worse. Should I have been more secretive? Then an SMS message came across my mobile:

SORRY FOR DELAY -- MEET 4 COFFEE AND CHAT 2MORROW @ 2 @ SBUCKS? - MARIAM

So much for cloak-and-dagger.

We met the next day, and over a couple of Café Americanos, she told me a bit about herself. She'd lived in America before the Gulf War, but returned home shortly after the war began. I asked her what it was like. "While I was glad to be home, it was a very grim time for me" she told me "to watch as bombs fell from the sky, destroying neighbors homes and killing my people, and knowing that this destruction was being caused by people I might have gone to school with a year earlier."

I had come with a list of questions to ask her, mostly the obvious ones, with a few more difficult ones thrown in. I asked her if why she thought America was targeting Iraq. She was quick to correct me, again. "It is not the people of America, but the American government that wishes to destroy the Iraqi government, regardless of the cost in lives on either side. Don't forget that."

Then the interview began in earnest.

Why do you think the American Government is threatening Iraq?

"It is a personal vendetta against our president. Almost alone among Arab leaders, President Hussein has refused to knuckle under to the American government, refused to play the role of puppet. As an Iraqi woman and a Muslim, I am proud of my president for taking this stance."

What role do you think oil plays in this conflict?

"I definitely don't believe that it's just about oil. Although oil revenues play a part of this, it is more complicated than that. The American government's desire to control the middle east is about more than oil."

I tell her about the many Americans who are against the war, people like my sister, who spent the better part of last week locked in Senator Kerry's office to get him to change his vote (he didn't).

What do you want to say to the tens of thousands of people in America who are taking action to try to stop the war?

"I think people like that are great people, and I would like to thank them sincerely and with love. Please tell your sister that I love her for what she's doing."

There are some in America, particularly in the Bush Administration, who feel that the Iraqi people will be grateful to the US for removing Sadam Hussein…that there will be "dancing in the street". What do you think about this?

"I have heard this, and I can only tell you that it is quite likely that, without Saddam Hussein, the country will split apart, and it will be north against south, Kurd against Shiite against Sunni. People will kill people. There will be no dancing in the streets."

I bring up the Israeli / Palestinian conflict, and she winces slightly. "Do you really want to talk about Palestine?" She asks. I tell her I think it's germane, but I try to tread lightly. I quickly sense that while Mariam may have been influenced by life in America, her feelings about Jews would hardly be considered politically correct.

"Palestine belongs to Palestinians. Israelis are killing people." She tells me "I think that Jews must all hate Muslims. I read somewhere that a Jewish holy book calls upon Jews to kill Muslims wherever they are found."

I tell her that I find that unlikely; that many of those in the American anti-war movement are themselves Jewish, and that many Jews in America and Israel despise Sharon, and want Israel to revert to pre-1965 boundaries.

"I see no difference between 'Jews' and 'Israelis'. My grandmother tells me that there was a Jewish family next door to her when she was a child, and that they were best friends, there was no problem then. But I am afraid of Jews."

Mariam is not aware that, going strictly by genetics, she is talking to a Jew. I consider telling her, but think better of it. Sensing that I may have hit a wall, I try to approach the Israeli / Palestinian issue from another angle, asking her opinion of the now-forgotten peace plan proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah earlier this year offering a normalization of relations. She doesn't respond to this, and I sense that the idea of peaceful coexistence between Israeli and Arab is as ludicrous to her as it might be to the most right wing of Israelis. I try one more tack, choosing my words carefully

Do you think that there can ever be a peaceful coexistence between Jews and Muslims in the holy land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River?

"If god wills it, anything is possible."

Insha'allah?

"Yes, Only Insha'allah."

It's approaching 3:30, and I still have a few questions to ask. I ignore the urge to tell Mariam that the sister that she'd earlier sent love to for protesting the war on Iraq, my sister who speaks out regularly against Ariel Sharon, the building of settlements on Palestinian land, and all of the assorted horrors of Israeli occupation, is still 'A Jew'. Instead, I turn the conversation back to the subject of Iraq, and the potential of impending war.

Are you scared for your country?

Of course I'm scared. I lived through the gulf war. I know that war equals death and suffering. But I also know that Iraqi people are strong, and that we will never knuckle under to threats. This is what both George Bushes fail to understand.

What would you say to people who agree with the Bush administration that an attack on Iraq is a necessary step to stop terrorism?

I implore these people to look in their hearts and understand that Iraq is not an enemy of America, to think about the tremendous suffering of the Iraqi people already inflicted by the last war and by the sanctions. Another war will not bring peace; it will bring only suffering to all involved. The death of every Iraqi would do nothing to stop terrorism. Terrorism comes from hate. You cannot stop hate with killing.