But the war seems more distant, the bombing and shelling an occasional interruption rather than a constant thump, gripping the stomach in a permanent spasm of fear.
Even today, over six decades later, just hearing that long wail of the warning siren on old newsreels and films gives me that same cold knot of fear in the pit of my stomach which I always felt all those years ago.
Diplomats are quoted as saying Arab leaders are also motivated by the fear that the US may lack the stomach for nation-building in a turbulent post-Saddam Iraq.