This is CBS I On The World. I'm John Batser. I'm with the author and journalist.

Ray Thabdala-Hard is no book is a strange during your own city travels in the Middle East

long war. Ray Thu paint a beautiful scene of your father and showing you in the high

and the sky over Baghdad and F4 Phantom. Who was your father at that moment? What did

he make of the F4 Phantom for the I believe you were five years old?

I was five. My father was a what do we call an amateur interested in aviation and planes

and collected all these you know foreign magazines about airplanes and jet fighters. He had

a few friends who were pilots and the air force. So this is where he could you know spot

the F4 flying over Baghdad. I really remember that day as my first war I went to my parents

that room my father later took me to the room. Seeing that was the first time I hear the

sounds of heavy anti aircraft machine guns and it's a very interesting point because you

know John because I think that's the point where all the miseries of Al-Ab started that

war with Iran which led to Saddam having a very strong army but a bankrupt country which

led him to invading Kuwait in 91 and the history with the rest.

The story includes you witnessing a parade my date says 1989 so you were a few years

older a parade a victory parade though the war ended with no clear winner both sides as we

witness in all wars both sides extremely greets dracon but at the same time claiming success you

witness a parade where there are Iranian prisoners and Iraqi soldiers I picture the parade marching

by and you get close enough for one soldier to give you a bullet what did you make of that where

you excited was everybody excited about that parade so so the parade was before the end of the

war I mean of course there was massive parades after the end of the war and as you say both sides

claim they came victorious that specific parade I think was around 86 and I was still young and

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