From the front line

During November 2004, in my final year at medical school, my college closed because of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq. Instead I decided to go to Ramadi city's general hospital, along with two of my friends and colleagues, Omar and Ahmed. We decided to help out at the hospital to gain experience. It never crossed our minds that we would be responsible for peoples' lives in such a short time.

The city of Ramadi is the largest city in the Anbar province, with a population of about 400 000 people. This province also includes the city of Fallujah, where the insurgency is occurring. When the coalition forces decided to …