Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Note to Readers
- Dramatis Personae
- Map of Iraq
- Introduction
- One The United States
- Two The “Zionist Entity”
- Three The Arab World
- Four Qadisiyyah Saddam (The Iran-Iraq War)
- Five The Mother of All Battles
- Six Special Munitions
- Seven The Embargo and the Special Commission
- Eight Hussein Kamil
- Epilogue
- Appendix: Timeline
- References
- Index
- References
Four - Qadisiyyah Saddam (The Iran-Iraq War)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Note to Readers
- Dramatis Personae
- Map of Iraq
- Introduction
- One The United States
- Two The “Zionist Entity”
- Three The Arab World
- Four Qadisiyyah Saddam (The Iran-Iraq War)
- Five The Mother of All Battles
- Six Special Munitions
- Seven The Embargo and the Special Commission
- Eight Hussein Kamil
- Epilogue
- Appendix: Timeline
- References
- Index
- References
Summary
Iran has planned animosity for us from the beginning, as if the change [Revolution] that took place in Iran was designed with the intention to be against the interest of Iraq…[W]e have treated them more kindly than they deserve.
– Saddam Hussein, November 1979On 22 September 1980, after months of border skirmishes, Saddam's army streamed into Iran. Though hoping for a quick victory, Saddam soon found himself mired in an ill-conceived conflict against a powerful and motivated opponent. For eight long years, hundreds of thousands of soldiers fought in the marshes, mountains, and deserts dividing the two countries. As the conflict wore on, Saddam's desperate military employed chemical weapons, bombarded Iranian cities, and brutalized ethnic minorities. Iran responded by sending human waves of teenage zealots storming across Iraqi minefields and targeting neutral shipping in the Gulf. By the time both sides accepted a UN cease-fire in August 1988, the fighting had led to nearly a million casualties, thousands more sat in prison camps, and the region was poorer by billions of dollars. Saddam's glib conversations in this chapter belie the terrible suffering his words inflicted.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Saddam TapesThe Inner Workings of a Tyrant's Regime, 1978–2001, pp. 126 - 164Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011