‘Did you say history, Major? Did I hear you correctly?’
‘Yes, history, you heard me right. We’re engaged in another historic war with the enemy!’
‘I’m delighted to learn that you’re interested in history. Before this war, I was only concerned with contemporary news and stories. But for some time now I’ve been looking into the history of the tension between the Arabs and Iran. Of course, history usually reports animosities, wars and massacres, and ultimately, the defeat or victory of one of the sides involved. But on the margins of history, you come across some remarkable details that are worthy of note. So, a while ago, I decided to write a book that goes into all that history, all our victories and all the enemy’s tribulations and defeats. In your opinion, Major, wouldn’t that sort of work have a greater long-term impact?’
‘Katib … Katib … we’re talking as if we don’t understand each other’s language. Or is it that you can’t hear me, or haven’t listened to what I’m saying? Don’t you feel the same way as me on this question? I’m speaking in Arabic and your dossier shows that you’re an Arab, too. Unless your ancestors on your mother’s side were Kurds — and you know it would be quite a black mark against you if that were the case. You see, if it were deemed necessary to do a bit of digging in your file, it could lead to your enforced exile from the homeland. To spell it out for you, at best you would be cast adrift in foreign lands like most of your colleagues, and you wouldn’t be in such good shape as you are now. You get my meaning, I hope?’
‘Yes, I understand you perfectly.’
‘So let’s return to our main subject, shall we, which is contemporary history. Current affairs, so to speak. We need your pen today. In the here and now. The past was what concerned our predecessors, but what concerns us is the present. The here and now. This very instant. Because it is quite possible that some Ajam† aircraft might just have taken off, and by chance, chosen to target this road along which I, you and this soldier here are travelling to reach our destination. What I mean is, we’ve now entered a war zone and from this point on anything could happen to us! We’re in danger, do you understand? It’s perfectly possible for a plane with a devil’s apprentice of a pilot at the controls to slip under our radar by flying in at a low altitude and to suddenly appear above our heads. Those types of sorties are usually considered suicide missions. It is almost impossible for the plane and the pilot to return home unless by a miracle. It was one of those missions that destroyed our important barracks up in the north with a huge payload of TNT. Displaying utter recklessness, the devilish pilot dropped his bombs on our barracks from the lowest possible altitude and then pulled his aircraft up like a djinn and high-tailed it out of there. I heard on the foreign news that the dreadful force of the explosion had shattered the windshield of his plane and burst the pilot’s eardrums, and that he had been killed instantly! But the other son-of-a-devil, the co-pilot I mean, was able to regain control and bring the plane, which otherwise would surely have crashed, back to the nearest airbase and land it successfully. But such unorthodox tactics are not confined to bombing raids. Sometimes they do it simply to show off their firepower and piloting skill and courage. Sometimes they’ll just empty their machine-gun magazine and soar upwards. But although it’s just meant as a demonstration of their military might, there’s nothing to stop one of those machine-gun rounds hitting a moving target purely by chance. Like us, for instance, just driving along like we are right now. That’s the reason why not every departure also means a return. I’m sure you bade your wife and family farewell when you heard the jeep’s horn outside. Am I right? You said goodbye to your family, correct? Yes? I can’t hear you, speak up.’
‘Yes, I said my goodbyes.’
‘So you understand what I mean by contemporary history? This is it. When the soles of our feet are roasting on a griddle, we can’t think of our barefoot ancestors who ran around aimlessly on hot desert sands, hollering, to God knows what purpose! Right now we must tend to the burning soles of the populace! You are one of us, and this soldier here has been sworn to silence. So I’ll take the liberty of speaking frankly. Let me tell you, then, that on battlefields all over the country, we are facing endless waves of enemy troops, wave after wave! We kill and kill and kill. But no matter how many we mow down, they never stop coming. It’s easy to imagine that we’ve made not the slightest impact on their troop numbers. These waves of soldiers turn all the normal principles of war on their head. We try and maintain the principles of a classic battlefield army, whereas they … well, it seems like their strategy amounts to nothing but this: to dispense with all the traditional rules and principles in favour of martyring themselves.’
‘Major, will you let me cite an example from history for you?’
‘Go ahead! Speak louder so I can hear you. All this noise … and the sound of the jeep’s engine … please continue!’
‘It’s a complete 180-degree turn in history, a volte-face! The method of warfare you’re describing reminds me precisely of our own when we attacked and overran Persia! They had a classic army ranged against us, and we employed unorthodox tactics. If you can picture that period in your mind’s eye, then your idea of people running about on hot desert sands would take on a new complexion, believe me. If that period had only been imprinted firmly on our collective memory, then you wouldn’t be so surprised at the notion of waves of human beings so fanatical and furious that they can turn the principles of traditional warfare on their head and turn themselves into cannon fodder. For that reason I believe it’s essential for me to create a work that recalls the insane courage that our ancestors displayed in combat. A work that could bear comparison with what was written in Iran’s Khorasan province a thousand years ago, all in praise of heroes and warriors of old, though of course it would be impossible in this day and age to create an epic of such proportions. But we can do our best both to delve into the meaning of victory and conquest, and to discover how to defend ourselves now. Especially by studying the manner in which the Abbasids defended themselves with the help of some Iranian families against Iranian rebels. I’m minded to write such an epic, pure and simple. I can only look at history from this point of view. And if this work does come to fruition, I’m sure that our homeland, president and people will be pleased with it.’
‘Katib … Katib … Katib … why not just think of the topic at hand as being a chapter of the same book you are busy crafting right now? Each story has a chapter of its own. This incident could have come from the past too, couldn’t it?’