THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR, 1980–1988 term paper

On 17 September 1980, Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, attacked Iran. Although Saddam’s motives are not fully known, at least three reasons prompted his attack. First, he wanted to enlarge his power and sphere of influence in the Persian Gulf (the war is often called the First Persian Gulf War.) Second, he wanted Iranian territory. Third, by launching a preemptive strike against Iran, he would ensure that Iran’s Shiite Muslim leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, could not inspire Iraq’s large Shiite Muslim community to revolt against Saddam.

By 1981 the Iraqi invasion had opened a 730-mile front stretching from Turkey to the Persian Gulf. Slowly the Iranians pushed the Iraqis back. By 1982 Iranian forces were launching counteroffensives and attacking Basra, Iraq’s second largest city. Iraqi defenses held Basra, but a grueling war of attrition now ensued. In 1983 Iranian forces, using suicidal human-wave attacks, began to overrun Iraqi defenses and appeared poised to invade southern Iraq. Saddam was so shaken by this prospect that he resorted to the use of chemical weapons. Hydrogen cyanide, nerve gas, and mustard gas were used to repel the Iranian attacks. The Iranians took countermeasures, and soon they began using mustard gas and phosgene gas against the Iraqis. Throughout the war the numbers favored Iran. Iran’s population was 45.2 million compared to Iraq’s 15.5 million. Iran mobilized 2.5 million men, while Iraq mobilized 1 million. The Iranian military, despite their three-to-one advantage in manpower, had severe leadership and logistical problems. Khomeini distrusted the Iranian officer corps, and by the 1980s he had purged the military of thousands of its best officers. The Iranian air force, comprised of older U.S.-built aircraft, lacked trained pilots and spare parts and played virtually no role in the war. Artillery, tanks, and even small arms were often in short supply. It was not uncommon for Iranian units to be sent to the front without weapons. The Iraqi military, though fewer in number, had a superior air force of Soviet-built fighters and maintained air supremacy throughout the war. The Soviet Union also ensured that Saddam Hussein’s army had an ample supply of weapons, including multiple-rocket launchers and intermediate-range missiles. By 1988 momentum appeared to favor Iraq. To protect world oil supplies, the U.S. Navy was now patrolling the Persian Gulf and had clashed with Iranian naval vessels. The Soviet Union had condemned Khomeini’s Iranian revolution and announced its commitment to supply Iraq with even more advanced weapon systems. On 18 July 1988, Khomeini accepted a cease-fire. Iranian dead numbered 300,000; the Iraqi dead totaled 135,000. Each side suffered about 750,000 wounded. The war accomplished nothing. It cost Iraq more than $400 billion and Iran more than $600 billion. Saddam Hussein was so impoverished by the war that in 1990 he seized oil-rich Kuwait, igniting a Second Persian Gulf War.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Why would Saddam’s fears of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim community persuade him to attack Iran? What justification was there for his fears? 2. Investigate the chemical weapons Saddam used against Iran and report on their effects.
3. Assess Saddam Hussein’s military leadership in this war.
4. What stake did the Soviet Union have in the outcome of the war? Evaluate its efforts to protect its interests.
5. Although the United States officially supported Iraq in the war, the Reagan administration supplied some weapons to Iran. How can this seeming contradiction be explained?
6. Review the Reagan administration’s “Iran-Contra” policy, in particular its role in promoting U.S. interests in the Gulf region, and report on its success or lack of success.

Research Suggestions

In addition to the boldfaced items, look under the entry for “Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution, 1979” (#80). Search under Iran-Contra and Oliver North.

SUGGESTED SOURCES

Primary Sources

The Mind of Hussein [videorecording]. Chicago: Films Inc., 1991. A sixtyminute Frontline television documentary on Saddam Hussein’s wartime policy including excerpts from his speeches and interviews.

United States Congress: Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition. Iran-Contra Investigation: Joint Hearings Before the Senate Select Committee on … Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1988. These documents focus on the testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra hearings.

Secondary Sources

Baram, Amatzia, and Barry Rubin, eds. Iraq’s Road to War. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993. Several of the essays examine Saddam’s moti-vation for attacking Iran.

Draper, Theodore. A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs. New York: Hill and Wang, 1991. A balanced assessment of this debacle.

Hiro, Dilip. The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict. New York: Routledge, 1991. A reliable military history of the war.

Karsh, Efraim, and Inari Rautsi. Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography. New York: The Free Press, 1991. Chapters 6 and 7 deal with the war.

Khalil, Simir al. Republic of Fear: The Inside Story of Saddam’s Iraq.New York: Pantheon, 1990. Examines the totalitarian character of Saddam’s rule in Iraq.

Segel, David. “The Iran-Iraq War: A Military Analysis.” Foreign Affairs 66 (Summer 1988): 946–63. Based on solid research and interviews, Segal shows how the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra policy aided Iran with satellite intelligence photos of Iraqi defenses.

Smolanksy, Oles M., and Betie M. Smolansky. The USSR and Iraq: The Soviet Quest for Influence. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1991. Provides good insights into the troubled relations of these two allies.

Stoessinger, John G. Why Nations Go to War. 7th ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Chapter 6 focuses on Saddam Hussein’s wars.

World Wide Web

“Department of History Map Library” http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/dhistorymaps//MapsHome.htm. Click on “Atlases” for United States Military Academy (West Point) maps of the Iran-Iraq war.