It’s so normal in Baghdad, it’s weird. People go to work, get married, have funerals, pray, go shopping, take the kids to school - just as they always do.



But of course, they’re all waiting...waiting for Hans Blix’s next statement to the UN, waiting to see if war can be averted, waiting for war to start, waiting for this to be resolved for better or for worse, somehow.



As always in these situations, while many of the locals would leave if they could, journalists are desperate to get in and those of us who are here already are desperate to stay.



Channel 4 News has a small team. Tim Lambon, our multi-skilled producer/cameraman, has tremendous experience in war zones and is great at logistics and thinking ahead. He and I spent seven weeks in Belgrade under NATO bombs, so we’re used to being attacked by our own side as it were.



Paul Eedle is a producer/translator extraordinaire, a former Reuters Bureau Chief in the Middle East who speaks fluent Arabic.



Our driver, Yussuf al Taie, is a solid, dependable man who prays regularly and whose main concern is for his family.



Finally there’s Mohammed Fatnan, our “coordinator”, the man designated by the Ministry of Information to be with us. Of course there are limits on what we can do and where we can go, but I have to say that Mohammed tries hard to get us permission to film what we want. And he has a sense of humour when things don’t work out.



Tim, Paul and I are staying in a small hotel on the east side of the River Tigris which bisects the city. We have kitchenettes, which I have to tell you is a blessing. especially for a vegetarian who blanches at the sight of kebab.



Most other journalists are at the famous Al Rasheed, west of the river and near the Ministry, which is where the press corps stayed during the Gulf War. It’s a large, ugly concrete building which rather alarmingly describes itself as “More than a hotel.”



Cleanliness is not its strong point, and I once made even an Iraqi official laugh by saying I had found Iraq’s chemical weapon in its kitchen. I hope that if the bombing starts we do not have to move there.



Our lives are centred on the Ministry of Information, where journalists have offices. All the major US networks are here - ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN as well as European stations, the BBC, Sky and ITN and many newspaper reporters and photographers.



An optimist decided some months back that the ministry building was inadequate, so construction is underway to provide us more palatial accommodation. They say the building will be finished soon. Inshallah. The roof looks like a small refugee camp, as a dozen organisations have tents up there for their satellite equipment which enables us to do ‘live spots’.



People tell me that during bombing in 1998, correspondents were doing ‘lives’ through the night as bombing continued around them. I’m not so sure about that idea. If there is a war, I don’t think I want to be on the Ministry roof as 3,000 smart bombs and cruise missiles arrive in town.



We know many of the journalists here because we were with them in Yugoslavia or Rwanda or other places where we have covered the conflicts of our time.



It’s a shifting community, a group of friends who meet in the strangest places. We talk about the war all the time - where should we stay, how can we keep safe, is it possible to protect our equipment from the latest microwave weapons which the Americans may use, which apparently knock out all electronic systems?



In the meantime, we do what stories we can. And like the Iraqis, we wait.