Day 4
This was the first time it's rained - turning pot-holes into puddles and decaying roads into great muddy lakes.
So I wimped out of the peaceniks demo.
Too much rain for a rally. Several delegations from Europe and North America are here to express solidarity with "the Iraqi people".
Last week I met Jany le Pen, wife of the French far-right leader, in Baghdad promoting her book "SOS The Children of Iraq." War makes strange bedfellows, because most of the other peace protestors and "human sheilds" are distinctly left of centre.
We went to the press centre, in the Ministry of information, where a group of Spanish, Italians and Canadians were explaining their motives to dozens of assembled cameras. A small Italian woman in an orange coat with a badge inscribed "human sheild" had brought her enormous St Bernard dog, Gustavo, to symbolise the saving of life (St Bernards being associated with mountain rescue, the Red Cross, and those quaint barrells of rum around their necks).
As I patted Gustavo, a very amiable creature, I realised I was in the presence of the first canine shield.
It is strangely normal in Baghdad. People are still celebrating Eid.
As we sat down for lunch at an Italian restaurant, Tim - our multi-skilled producer/cameraman - pointed out that Saddam Hussein's Chief Weapons Advisor, Amir al Saadi, was at the next table with his family, having a long festive lunch.
It would have been rude to interrupt, so I quelled the journalistic instinct to lean over and see if I could prise any nuggets of information from him.
Tomorrow Hans Blix, the Chief Weapons Inspector, will
deliver what could be his last report to the UN Security Council.
Mr al Saadi will have to respond then - so it seemed kinder to let him have his lunch while he could.
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