I met an amazing man today. We had gone to the Al Daura oil refinery to meet the 23 European and American "human shields" who have decided to stay in the oil workers' compound through the bombing.
That's a serious decision, because the refinery was hit in 1991 - no-one was killed, but the damage was serious and the fire raged for 10 days.
The man I'm talking about, however, was not a human shield but the refinery Safety Engineer.
His name - inherited from a British grandfather - was William George White, and we met him when his wife, Haifa, invited us into their house to see the preparations they've made for war.
The sofas were covered in cloths, the windows taped, and the freezer packed with food.
The preparations were born of experience, because the family lost most of their possessions in 1991 when a missile went into the refinery just a few yards away.
"We thought it was the last hour, our last days when the bombs hit the refinery," said William. "The explosion sounded very very high and all the windows were broken and I thought the ceiling will come over me. Sometimes I think everything was falling on me, and no-one knows I'm here."
The three children - Dany, Dina and Fadi - were off to their grandmother's house this afternoon, because William and Haifa thought it would be safer - well, they hope it will be.
"Maybe there is no safe area in Baghdad. Any missile can go wrong," he said.
He says it's his duty to remain and do his job at the refinery. As safety engineer, he's normally checking that the toxic chemicals at the refinery are stored correctly and the workers are obeying safety procedures.
During the war, however, he will have to shepherd workers into shelters and decide when to shut down certain units because of the danger of bombardment.
"I have to stay in the refinery because everything is working. We have to bring fuel to the civilians. If the refinery stops, the life will stop here. No transport, no food, nothing," he said.
Now that's dedication. But it's also pragmatism. "I have a job, I can't leave it. I have a family, children. If I leave my job how can we live after these days?"
It made me reflect on the choices people make. We, as journalists, have chosen to be here but we're not running the same risks as a man who's staying in an installation which he knows could be a target.
And what about the human shields?
I've always been rather sniffy about them, considering them naïve and foolish. But I have to say that they are standing up for what they believe in.
An oil engineer's wife who lives opposite the house where they stay said "We think they're heroes."
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