We sat in a traffic jam for a very long time before pulling up in front of Kadhimie mosque. The ancientmosque was a stunning piece of architecture with towering minarets and gold handcrafted tiles. We were invitedto go inside. For a minute, there was some debate about the requirements for going into the mosque. Were wedressed properly? Were women allowed? Did the women need to have their heads covered? Were non-Muslims allowedinside? I disliked the idea of exclusiveness, so I chose not to go inside and instead connected with myroommate, Wil Van Natta. After getting permission from a staff member, the two of us decided to walk throughthe market place while the rest of the delegation visited the mosque. Wil and I immediately engaged in a veryvibrant, animated conversation about what we had seen that day. We talked about the hospital, the staff—theother delegates. I explained to him my concerns; I wondered if we were getting an accurate view of what wastaking place in the country. I was troubled by a number of things I had seen, but combined with theunbelievable excitement of what we were doing here. I was filled with strong and mixed emotions. Wil sharedmany of these same feelings and expressed many of his own concerns. He told me that during the visit to thehospital, he had been ambushed by an NBC camera crew, and in the heat of passion had made some "improper"statements about the U.S. government that could have made the ISC look bad. He had taken some criticism fromsome of the other ISC members and he felt resentful. In a way, he felt like me—besieged on all sides.