His heroes may be the same as any 11-year-old living in Europe or the United States, but the rest of Mowaffaq Abbas? life could hardly be more different. A Baghdad schoolboy, Mowaffaq must regularly evade the threat of suicide car bombers, violent kidnappers and armed insurgents just to get to school each morning.

And once he?s there, he?s hardly any safer. Earlier this year a car bomb blew up near his school, destroying walls, blowing out windows and wounding several pupils. One teacher lost his memory and hasn?t got it back, Mowaffaq said.

He?s not just unlucky. His 13-year-old brother Mohammed has had similar experiences. Some months ago, a man was shot dead in front of him as he was cycling to another school.

?His blood splattered onto me,? Mohammed recalled. ?I couldn?t sleep for two days ... I avoid that route now. ?Every night I go to bed not knowing if I?m going to wake up tomorrow,? he said as he took a break from helping his father run a small shop next to their house in Baghdad.

For school-age children in Iraq, the events of the past 20 months have been like one of the violent movies they all seem to love, except with the action going on all around them 24 hours a day.

See the world

Yet, rather than seeming scarred, distraught or jaded by the violence, Mowaffaq, Mohammed, their brothers and friends seem surprisingly well-adjusted. While they are unhappy about the lack of security, and often scared, they remain confident about the future and entertain ambitions they say they couldn?t have held if Saddam Hussein was still around.

Mowaffaq is a soccer fan who lists basketball star Michael Jordan and England soccer player David Beckham among his heroes. He dreams of becoming a translator and traveling the world. ?I think the chances are better for me now than they were under Saddam,? he said, although he worries that by the time he?s old enough to work all the foreigners will have fled Iraq, meaning he won?t have anyone to translate for. His eldest brother Mohammed is fascinated by science.

?I want to be a weapons scientist and I think that after the war my chances have got better,? he said. ?I?ve seen lots of ammunition, mortars, bombs and that sort of thing, and I?ve looked inside them and it?s really fascinating.?

Asked what he thought of those who use crude science to make bombs, causing almost daily casualties, he is dismissive. ?I don?t want to have anything to do with car bombs, don?t be silly. I?d like to be one of those scientists who is a complete specialist in their field, where there are only three or four of them in the country.?

The brothers say some of the boys at their schools talk in glowing terms about those fighting the insurgency, but they are the minority and are shouted down by others. ?Every time those kids say they support the attacks they back it up by saying, ?Well, my dad said this and my dad said that?, so it?s obvious where they get it from,? said Mohammed. ?Sometimes I joke with them and say that I?m going to go and tell the Americans what they?ve said.?

Freer but not happier

While education, work and other opportunities may open up for the brothers in time, their day-to-day existence is much more restricted now than it was before the US invasion.

The street they live on, which houses the French Embassy and several news organizations, is fenced off at either end by high concrete blast walls ? protection against suicide bombers.

There are spikes in the road to stop vehicles and armed guards on duty. The children seldom venture beyond the perimeter except for school.

Friends come to visit and they play soccer and basketball in the dusty and deserted road, which was once a busy two-lane street full of traffic. But it?s not like being free, they say.

?This area where we are, this street, it?s safer than where my friends live, but we can?t go out to play football, we can?t go to do taekwondo. We?re stuck,? said Mowaffaq, looking around in exasperation.

?Under Saddam it was more secure. Even though it was an oppressive regime, we could still go around and visit friends after school,? he added. But he doesn?t want Saddam back.

?Before the war, who could speak against Saddam? They would cut his tongue out right away. Now we can say what we like.? While the children are no fans of Iraq?s insurgents, they don?t exactly revere US soldiers as heroes either.

?I don?t consider the Americans enemies. I think they came here to help a poor country and sometimes they?re good to us,? said Mohammed. ?The thing I don?t like is that when they?re attacked, they fire back randomly, just shooting at everything.

Yet they also don?t think the Americans should leave: ?They have to stay and bring us security and make sure we have elections,? said Mowaffaq. ?If they leave now, we?d be in a mess.?

Luke BAKER