01:00:11:10 This story cost me 17 years in my life. 01:00:19:05 I was between 18 to 19 years old, when the war started between Iraq and Iran. 01:00:28:20 The war, it changed our life. 01:00:34:00 I was happy in my life. I have a restaurant. I work around 13-14 hours per day. I like my job. 01:00:48:00 I have a special girlfriend. I love her and she loves me. PHOTOGRAPH: Taken from Google Image Search “Iraqi Woman and Child” and turned into a prop. 01:00:55:00 When I [joined] the army, she was pregnant. I told her, “Listen, I can’t do anything until I finish the war.” 01:01:03:10 And I promise her every time, “I will marry you when I come back, when the war [is] finished. Give me couple of months. We will be married.” 01:01:12:08 She cries. She has no answer. 01:01:23:00 No one likes war. No any human likes war, but we have no choice. Stock Images, animated: Soldiers silhouette, tanks, dust 01:01:28:00 In Iraq, the dictator told [us], “You will be killed. You and your family.” We have no choice. 1. CORBIS Stock Image: Iraqi, kneeling and praying with head down and hands open 2. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Stock Image: Iraqi women, in Kamaliya, Iraq, after Iran-Iraq War 01:01:39:04 {CAPTION} The Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), led by Ayatollah Khomeini and Saddam Hussein, was one of the most brutal wars of the 20th Century. GETTY Stock Image: Tanks, soldiers, behind bunkers 01:01:48:20 {CAPTION} Desperate for troops, the Iranian army enlisted more than 200,000 child soldiers. GETTY Stock Image: Child soldiers, standing at attention 01:01:51:20 {CAPTION} The overall death toll was estimated at 1.5 million. 01:02:01:18 I was 13 and half years old [when] I joined the army. 01:02:09:00 My father, he abused me and he hit me. That’s why I decided to run away from home and joined the army. 1. ZAHED HAFTLANG’s personal photo: Man with young boys, to look like Zahed’s father 2. ZAHED’S PERSONAL PHOTO: Boy sitting on a tank 01:02:24:00 I have nightmares and I try to forget everything. But I cannot. It stays in my mind. I think forever. CORBIS Stock Image: Iraqi soldier with gun, explosions in the distance, 1980 01:02:41:02 Every day I saw a lot of corpses. 01:02:45:00 My duty was to make a mass grave for all the Iraqi corpses. CORBIS Stock Image: Bodies loaded onto the back-bed of a truck, circa Iran-Iraq War 01:02:55:10 I wanted to escape from the front line but I don’t have any choice. 01:03:05:00 During the battle of Khorramshahr, there were attacks to each bunker. They were exploding each bunker. One by one. GETTY Stock Image: Soldiers pulling tank, circa Iran-Iraq War 01:03:15:10 Our leader he says, “We will have a big attack.” 01:03:22:02 One of the rockets [fell] close, around two meters close to my bunker. I tried to go out from the bunker, I can’t. Reenactment 01:03:31:10 I went to one Iraqi bunker, with a small flashlight. I was afraid. Oh my god. Because sometimes the Iraqian soldier they take off the grenade and explore himself. Basically it’s suicide, to kill the enemy. Bodies on the ground are STOCK IMAGES that have been animated into the reenactment 01:03:58:00 I heard the weapon [coming] close, very close to me. It means they started to kill who [was still] alive. 01:04:08:17 I found one Iraqi soldier. He was full of blood. 01:04:15:10 I see the face, not our people. And he talks, not my voice, not my language. Now I knew [that] I am in the enemy’s hand. 01:04:27:10 He cried and he [was] begging me. 01:04:31:00 “Allah sem lich. Allah hed lich.” I didn’t know what he says. 01:04:37:00 He right away [went] into my pocket. He [was] trying to steal [from] me. There was a small holy book. Its name is Koran. It was from my mom. She gave it to me, “My son, this will protect you. Keep it with you.” 01:04:51:00 I had a picture. It was my girlfriend with her boy. PHOTOGRAPH: Taken from Google Image Search “Iraqi Woman and Child“. 01:05:00:00 Because of his family and by that photo, he changed my mind. 01:05:06:10 I made a decision to save him. 01:05:11:12 Right away he changed into a human, not an enemy, not a killer. That’s what I was feeling, look like an angel coming to me now [and] coming with me in the bunker. 01:05:24:18 He was so happy. 01:05:28:09 That smile was touching my heart. 01:05:33:12 Something came to mind, I can hide him. I put all the front corpses on top of each other. I was making a cover in front of him. 01:05:47:12 I gave him the painkiller. He was sleeping again. 01:05:53:18 For 3 days, I kept him in that condition. 01:06:02:00 {CAPTION} Iranian forces won the Battle of Khorramshahr and ceasefire was declared. Zahed was able to take the injured Iraqi soldier to a military hospital. CORBIS Stock Image: Soldier in hospital bed 01:06:11:15 I [have] never heard about the Iranian soldier save the Iraqi soldier during the fighting, during the fighting. 01:06:21:10 I never see him again. I never see him again. 01:06:27:18 {CAPTION} Three years later, just before the war ends, Zahed is captured by Iraqi forces. He is held as a prisoner of war for two years. 1. CORBIS Stock Image: Backs of Iranian prisoners of war with “PW” label on their jumpers, circa Iran-Iraq War 2. CORBIS: Two POWs pose wearing jumpers with “PW” label on breast, two other POWs and a guard in the b/g, same time period 01:06:38:10 The Iraqi army, they released us and I became a free man. I came back to Iran. 01:06:53:15 Hey John, good morning. How are you doing? 01:06:59:15 When I tried to come back to my family, I pushed the buzzer. The lady she came out and said, “Their son, during the war he died, and they moved to another province.” 01:07:20:00 No body knows [whether] I am still alive or I am dead. They made a grave for me. 01:07:35:00 When I went to the graveyard, I saw my own gravestone. Motion graphics creation of gravestone with Farsi script describing death of ZAHED 01:07:43:20 My brain was frozen. And then, I was shouting and I was sitting down. I cried. 01:07:57:08 After 5 minutes I said to myself, “Are you idiot, are you stupid?” “You are alive! Why do you cry?” “What kind of man you are? Wake up man, you are alive!” 01:08:15:15 {CAPTION} In 1988, the Iran-Iraq War ended, but some prisoners of war continued to be detained for years. The Iraqi soldier, Najah, was not released until 1997. 01:08:24:00 Well the news, when we heard [that] they say Najah is still alive, something we don’t believe until we see [him]. 01:08:32:05 We make him come to Canada because we want him to be with us. Now We [have] missed all his life. He is our brother after all. So we rather him here than anywhere else in the world. 01:08:47:12 After the war, after the prison, after all this, yes, he came with anger in him. 01:08:59:18 It’s very hard to get healed you know. It’s like a scratch in you, in front of you. Whenever you look into the mirror, you see a scratch on your face. It will always bring you back to this memory. 01:09:35:08 It was so hard to have a normal life. I didn’t know what should I do. 01:09:46:10 Finally I took a job as a seaman. I came to Vancouver by ship. 01:09:55:05 No body knew who I am. I didn’t know, any communication with anybody. 01:10:09:10 I was tired of, of the life. 01:10:15:08 Emotionally, basically I was broken. 01:10:21:10 After the ship was gone, my depression got deeper and deeper. I made a decision to [commit] suicide with myself. 01:10:41:00 My roommate and his friend, they say to me, “Go to VAST. Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture.” And I went there. 01:10:59:05 {CAPTION} That day Najah drives his brother to the same counseling center for an appointment. 01:11:06:18 My brother, he doesn’t drive. And I took them to this place [VAST]. 01:11:13:08 And when I came again, I saw one man. He was sitting there. His face looked like Iraqi. Our languages are both same, Salam, Salam, like hello in English. 01:11:27:20 He said, “Are you Iraqian?” And I said, “No, I am Iranian. I think you are Iranian too?” He said, “No, I am Iraqian.” And he started to speak, with a heavy accent, Persian. 01:11:47:15 He said, “Wow, you can talk Persian, talk our language. Where did you learn?” “It was a long story.” I said. “Was it in Iran?” “No, no. I was a prisoner of war.” 01:11:59:05 I was laughing to him, “I used to be a prisoner of war too.” And I said to him, “You mean Khorramshahr, yes?” 01:12:09:05 “It is Khorramshahr! I was a soldier [in] this one.” “Which day?” I gave him the time. 01:12:17:05 “Which bunker you have been there?” He said, “I do know one Iranian soldier. He doesn’t have any beard, any moustache.” And I catch him! 01:12:33:20 [He asked] “Did you have a Holy Book, with a [picture] of your girlfriend, with your son?” I said, “How did you know?” He said, “Ok.” He started to shake. 01:12:45:10 Then I said, “On the right arm, you have a mark. On the top of your belly button, you have whole bunch of stitches.” 01:12:57:05 And he said, “Yeah, you are right.” 01:13:01:00 He was the same. He looked surprised. “It was me, me, me!” He started to shout. We made noise. We made noise in this office. 01:13:14:08 “The story I told you about the soldier, he is [here], in Canada. Now! I met him!” 01:13:27:15 He asked me, “You didn’t say what is your name 20 years ago. Could you please tell me your name?” And I said to him, “You didn’t say that one to me too. My name is Zahed and what is your name?” He said, “My name is Najah too.” We all cried. 01:13:56:00 Out of 36 million human beings in Canada, they both meet right there. It’s a miracle you know. 01:14:07:10 He was miserable. Now everything I see him, I try to help him. 01:14:12:15 We are like brother now. And we are real brother. 01:14:20:12 When I met Najah, he was catching my hand from darkness and moving me to light. He was showing me the way. 01:14:35:00 I never thought that one day an Iraqi is going to be part of my destiny, part of my life, part of my body, part of my memory. 01:14:45:15 This time he helped me.