The Foreign Service Journal, January 2004

the basement of the palace. I decid- ed that the best and safest place for me would be the spare room in my office. I got permission the next day to move into the Convention Center, and became the only woman living among hundreds of Florida National Guardsmen in a very nice fortress- type building! Unfortunately, I was still at breakfast on Monday (Nov. 1) when bombs started exploding all over the city. I ran to the office of Global Risk Security (a private security company with some of the best peo- ple I’ve ever met, who take care of me and never forget me in a crisis) and listened to a first-hand report from my friend Chris, who had quickly arrived at the scene of the Red Cross car (actually ambulance) bombing. There were a total of eight explosions on Monday morn- ing — luckily, miraculously, no pri- vate Americans were injured or killed. In fact, no private Americans were injured or killed in the Hotel al-Rashid bombing. However, one military officer was killed and four civilians were injured. I went back to the al-Rashid on Monday afternoon to retrieve the rest of my things from the hotel room. The only thing I lost in the bombing was my World Space radio, which was on the window ledge con- nected to a small satellite antenna. As I looked out the window, naively thinking my radio might be on the ground below it, I saw a round hole in the concrete overhang over my bulletproof window (the al-Rashid was built by Saddam to withstand quite a beating). It turns out that one of the 20 rockets that slammed into the hotel hit my window over- hang but did not detonate; it blew open the window (which was good because it otherwise would have broken) and shattered the glass in the other windows. Everything else in the room was perfect except for a J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 51 AN INVITATION FOR SUMMER FICTION O nce again the FSJ is seeking works of fiction of up to 3,000 words for its annual summer fiction issue. Story lines or characters involving the Foreign Service are preferred, but not required. The top stories, selected by the Journal ’s Editorial Board, will be published in the July/August issue; some of them will also be simultaneously posted on the Journal ’s Web site. The writer of each story will receive an honorarium of $250, payable upon publication. All stories must be previously unpublished. Submissions should be unsigned and accompanied by a cover sheet with author’s name, address, telephone number(s) and e-mail address. Deadline is April 1. No fooling. Please also note the following: • Authors are limited to two entries. • Entries will only be accepted by e-mail (preferably in the form of Word or Word Perfect attachments and with the text copied into the body of the message). Please send submissions (or questions) to Mikkela Thompson, Journal Business Manager, at Thompsonm@afsa.org.