When the U.S. invasion of Iraq began in 2003, people asked me how I felt about it. I could only say that I hoped Iraq would move toward becoming a more humane society, and in the process serve as a catalyst for the democratic transformation of the Arab world. But as I write this, such an outcome seems elusive amid the escalating torture, looting, bombing, kidnapping, hand cutting and beheading that dominate the headlines from Iraq. Sometimes people ask me if I would not want to one day visit Baghdad, my birthplace. My answer is -- and always will be -- an emphatic "Absolutely Not." I left Baghdad in April 1951, and will never set foot on that God foresaken land.