The dark days following 9/11, watching how the US would react, recalled by BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen. America's enemies were about to feel its anger. "The hard years of war that followed might have been easier - and more effective," he says "if the attacks had been treated as the actions of a dangerous but small group of conspirators. But Al Qaeda earned a new status on 9/11"Bowen has been reporting from the region for more than a quarter of a century. In this series, he combines first-hand accounts from the front line with an in-depth look into the region's history. 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 - one of the worst days, he says, in his life. Producers: Mark Savage and Cara Swift.