Shiraz [Iran, 2004] The 1980-88 war with Iraq claimed a million lives, mostly barely trained young men fighting in conditions not seen since WWI. Every Iranian city is full of reminders of the "the eight-year imposed war", as it is officially known, such as this mural of a bloodied martyr on the walls of a military base. Portraits of martyrs are often accompanied by paintings of idyllic mountain valleys representing paradise.