After learning a death squad was after him, Adhoob holed up in a trailer in the US Embassy compound while his friends worked the byzantine process necessary to win him a US visa. After several weeks, word finally came: Can you be ready to leave Iraq in the next 90 minutes? The family grabbed their possessions and hurried to the airport.

I recall seeing a documentary a few years ago which said the US military authorities in the early days of the US adminstration of Iraq used to hand out millions of dollars by weight alone - and not using a currency scale - no record was kept as to who received the money. We seem to always miss the Billions but spot the dollars and cents - read £ and p for the UK!!!!