The story of the Kurds of Iraq, told by BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen. They were brutally oppressed by Saddam Hussein after rebelling against him in 1991. "In towns and villages men and boys were taken away and killed," he remembers. "25 years ago I visited a Kurdish village that had no males over the age of 12." Today, Iraq's Kurds enjoy independence in their own de-facto mini-state in the north of the country. In this series, Jeremy reflects on the present and the past of the Middle East, after reporting from the region for more than a quarter of a century. He combines first-hand accounts from the front line with an in-depth look into the region's history. Bowen started reporting on the region in the lead up to the Gulf War back in 1990. Since then, he has witnessed endless wars between individuals, religious groups and full-sized states, jostling for military, political and economic power. He has interviewed dictators, fanatics and fundamentalists as well as the ordinary people caught up in their dangerous games. In that time, the past has always been present, providing motivation and political ammunition. Bowen has made headlines himself and he has paid a personal price, coming under fire and losing a colleague in the course of reporting - on the worst day, he says, in his life. Producers: Mark Savage and Cara Swift.