I am in New York at Christmas time. The lights are brilliant, the crowds at Rockefeller Center take in the giant Christmas tree, and the Rockettes are already into their umpteenth performance of their Christmas extravaganza.

I would like to be thinking about things like Miracle on 34th Street and An Affair to Remember. But instead I am thinking about Iraq.

There was more bombing in Baghdad today, and dozens of people were killed. My heart wants to be light, but it is heavy.

To be in New York at this time of year, as Hanukkah candles and Christmas trees light living rooms, and as the U.S. begins its withdrawal -- from a country it has already impregnated with destruction -- is a tricky thing.