PRESS RELEASE
Glendale Public Library
222 East Harvard Street
Glendale CA
Tel: 818-548-2042
Web:
Shant Kenderian, 2006 president of the Armenian Engineers and Scientists of
America, will speak at the Glendale Public Library, 222 East Harvard Street,
Glendale, CA, on Wednesday, July 18 at 7 p.m. He will discuss his
autobiography, 1001 Nights in Iraq: The Shocking Story of an American Forced
to Fight for Saddam Against the Country He Loves. This free event is
sponsored by the Friends of the Glendale Public Library. Reservations are
not needed.
1001 Nights in Iraq presents a human story that provides unique insight into
a country and culture that we only get a hint of in the headlines.
Shant Kenderian’s visit to Baghdad in 1980, at age seventeen, was supposed
to be a short one — just enough time to make peace with his estranged
father before returning to his home in the United States. But then Saddam
Hussein invaded Iran and sealed off Iraq’s borders to every man of military
age — including Shant. Suddenly forced onto the front lines, his two-week
visit turned into a nightmare that lasted for ten years.
After the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990, recalling
Kenderian to active duty before he could escape. When the landing craft he
was on hit a mine in the Persian Gulf, ironically placed by his own unit,
the survivors were picked up by an American frigate and the relieved
Kenderian became a POW. Because of his flawless English, Kenderian was a
favorite of his American captors.
After much diplomatic maneuvering, the self-described "man without a
country" was granted "humanitarian parole" and returned to the U.S.
Kenderian’s decade-long ordeal is a bittersweet story, but after
acknowledging his "really bad timing," he eschews the negative for an
inspirational account of perseverance and survival.
Shant Kenderian received his undergraduate degree in engineering in Baghdad.
He later completed a Ph.D. in the United States, where he joined a NASA team
in the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to investigate the
cause of the disaster and make improvements. On September 8, 2002, he became
an American citizen.
Website: an.asp
Information: (818) 548-2042