Book Review: "I Wish This Bullet Had not Been Fired"

Memories and Documents of the Explosion of a Cannonball

Compiled by: Mahia Hafizi
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2023-5-11

The book "I Wish this Bullet had not Been Fired" was published in 2022 by Surah Mehr publications in 616 pages and 1250 copies with a hologram price. The cover design of the war ball in the snowy mountain is appropriate for the theme. At first glance, the material and white color of the paper is visible. The sentences on the back cover of the book are chosen to encourage the reader to read. In the title of the book inside the cover, the word "shot" is placed on a blood-colored ball. The production factors of this book are: the author; Asghar Kazemi, editor; Seyed Mohammad Sadegh Faiz, page setter; Alireza Dana and cover designer; Javad Ghorbanipour.

The author, who has two books "Bamo" and "First-Hand" in his work, wrote in the introduction:

The story of this book starts from the moment a cannon ball was fired from the Iraqi side towards the Iranian front on 30^th Day of 1988; the target of that bullet was Girderesh Mountain, and it takes about fifty seconds for the bullet to travel a distance of twenty to twenty-four kilometers and reach the target.

The author's introduction, apart from the narratives of the interviewees, is considered oral history itself. By the end of 2019, three martyrs of the accident were identified. They were killed instantly by the shrapnel. Then finding the names and addresses of the injured, field research and explained the reason for different classification. In this book, the number of the person in the military column is the same as the chapter number.

In the following, he explained about maintaining the tone of speech in the implementation of the interview, collecting medical documents from the Defense Health Research Center, and the refusal of a fighter to mention his last name; finally, he mentioned the people who helped him in his research.

The book contains an introduction, seven chapters, a section called "One Bullet, Seven People", appendices and color photographs.

The first one, entitled the Child of Tiger, is the biography of Ayub Selgi, the logistics force of the Front. In the first chapter, in addition to the conversation with Mohammad Ibrahim Selgi, Ayoub's father, a conversation with Ayub's comrade (Alireza Kazemian) is also presented. For this chapter, 202 pages of written documents, 35 pieces of photos and 115 minutes of audio documents have been collected. The fact that the narrator's documentation comes immediately after the narration in the same chapter has made the reader's job easier.

Alireza Kazemian said: "The salary of each Basiji was two thousand and four hundred tomans(Iranian currency). I always spent my money on developing photographic film and printing photos. It was heavy for me; A part of my salary was going. Today, when the past thirty years have passed, the value and price of those photos shows itself."

The second chapter or the second person, titled Apple and Mole, deals with the biography of Seyyed Ali Akbar Vahabi. At the beginning of this chapter, we will introduce Garderesh Mountain and some military terms. It becomes clear to the reader that in each chapter information is gradually completed and classified. Maybe this method is better than bombarding the definitions at once and then the narrators talk. Most of the books have been arranged in the form of definitions of all words and places at the beginning or end and all photos with specifications at the end of the book. But this time there is variety. Then we read the narration of Seyyed Mohsen Vahabi, Seyed Ali Akbar's father, and his documents.

Like other narrators, Reza.N's narration (Definition of Black Rock) is not only a place of life, memories and events; each page provides information to the audience.

The third one, with the title "Mr. Four", is the biography of Ahmed Sahibi narrated by his brother Abbas Sahibi and Capt. Aminullah Mohseni, which ends with documents. The fourth person, "Pollen Snows" belongs to the information of Dawood Serlak. As usual, it starts with the memories and information of the author, who was a volunteer force of the front, the operations are narrated and it ends with the documents. The fifth person is the biography of Mohammad Taghi Qasimi entitled "They don't sell Putin in heaven". Jamal, Mohammad Taghi's brother and his niece Maryam Ramezani are the narrators of this section.

The Sixth Person (When Time Stopped) is about Hamidreza Asgarian, the sixth person in the column of seven. The seventh one with the title Golqadam is the biography of Abdullah Khodayi narrated by his wife and cousin Golqadam. In the "One Bullet, Seven People" section, the author gave information about the time, place and nature of the incident, which the result of the research is gathered in these 9 pages. After the attachments, the color photos with their explanations relieve eye fatigue.

* The bullet that is shot at you does not know fat or thin, white or black; Are you male or female; rich or poor; Apprenticeship or master; love or not; in a church or mosque; At a funeral or wedding, did you have dinner or not...

As he gets closer, he doesn't even ask if he is an enemy or a friend; Are you dead or alive, born or not...

And you only say that I wish this bullet...