The Superpowers Involvement In The Iran Iraq War

The final index entry of "zero-sum game" aptly encapsulates much about the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War (or Gulf War I as the author terms it) and its spinoff of the 1991 Gulf War II, particularly from the perspective of the US. Torock (whose background is unspecified except for the Melbourne signoff on the preface) views Saddam Hussein as a Frankenstein monster created by, and later turning against, the superpowers in a familiar pattern of their contest of political intervention in the Third World. Includes 16 pages of references. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This volume offers a wide-ranging examination of the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88), featuring fresh regional and international perspectives derived from recently available new archival material. Three decades ago Iran and Iraq became embroiled in a devastating eight-year war which served to re-define the international relations of the Gulf region. The Iran–Iraq War stands as an anomaly in the Cold War era; it was the only significant conflict in which the interests of the United States and Soviet Union unwittingly aligned, with both superpowers ultimately supporting the Iraqi regime. The Iran–Iraq War re-assesses not only the superpower role in the conflict but also the war’s regional and wider international dimensions by bringing to the fore fresh evidence and new perspectives from a variety of sources. It focuses on a number of themes including the economic dimensions of the war and the roles played by a variety of powers, including the Gulf States, Turkey, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. The contributions to the volume serve to underline that the Iran–Iraq war was a defining conflict, shaping the perspectives of the key protagonists for a generation to come. This book will be of much interest to students of international and Cold War history, Middle Eastern politics, foreign policy, and International Relations in general.

The Iran-Iraq War, which ended in the summer of 1988, a month short of its eighth anniversary, is undoubtedly the Third World's longest and bloodiest conflict in a half-century. As such, its lessons and implications extend beyond the geographical confines of the Middle East. Bringing together Israeli, American and European specialists from the fields of Middle East history, international relations, strategy and economics, this book offers the first comprehensive post bellum analysis of the impact and implications of the Iran-Iraq war. The book starts with an examination of the war's impact on the domestic and foreign affairs of the two belligerents, continues with a discussion of the political ramifications of the war in both the regional and the global spheres, and concludes by analysing the economic, military and strategic implications.

Discusses relations between Iran and Iraq throughout their conflict from 1980-1986. Introduction by Gary Sick and Brian Urquhart, authors of "Douse the Spreading Iran-Iraq Flames", an article which is reprinted at the end of the book. Includes articles about the U.N. and the war, covering the initiation of the fighting, the U.N. Security Council, the shift to the U.N. Secretariat, questions and conclusions.

Strategically placed on the global chess board, as well as controlling vast oil resources, the Middle East was one of the main theatres of Cold War. In the 1950s the Soviet Union had taken advantage of Arab Nationalists’ disillusion with British and French Imperialism, along with the emerging Arab-Israeli conflict, to establish relations with Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The United States responded by moving in to shore up the Western position. Confrontation was inevitable. Superpower Intervention in the Middle East was written in 1978, when this confrontation was at its height. The book’s main theme focuses on how the superpowers became competitively involved in local Middle East conflicts over which they could exercise only limited control, and the risks of nuclear confrontation of the kind which occurred at the end of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The threat to Western oil supplies is also examined. This is a fascinating work, of great relevance to scholars and students of Middle Eastern history and political diplomacy, as well as those with an interest in the relationship between the Western superpowers and this volatile region.

From 1980 to 1988 Iran and Iraq fought the longest conventional war of the century. It included tragic slaughter of child soldiers, use of chemical weapons, striking of civilian shipping, and destruction of cities. Pierre Razoux offers an unflinching look at a conflict seared into the region’s collective memory but little understood in the West.