Iraq-Iran War: 1980 Conflict of Islamic Power - Research Paper

Introduction

On September 22nd 1980, the Iraq military under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded Iran over what was thought to be a border conflict. For ages, the Iranian government had controlled the Shatt al-Arab region, which acted as a boundary between the two nations. However, the reality of the matter was rooted in the ongoing conflict of power regarding Islamic upraise power. As a result, the upraise of the Islamic revolution brought Ayatollah Khomeini to the pinecone power, which posed a direct threat to the Iraqi president. The war between Iran and the Iraqi government officially began in 1982, with Iran showing the better and stronger part of the conflict. As (Schwartz, 2016) points out, the brutal war threatened to end the brutal regime in Iraq. However, the Iranian government was more stable than both Iraq and Kuwait. However, the Kuwait government appealed for foreign assistance from the Soviet Union and the United States, both of whom helped to end in 1988 (Dodge, 2017). However, the economic recession in Iraq soon started depicting its true colors to the Iraqi community, due to a prolonged war, which led to the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

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The war between the Iraqi and the Iranian government brought the two sides in a state of economic hardship, forcing most of the citizens on both sides to leave in abject poverty. Iraq had profoundly depended on the exportation of oil, to develop its economy. Similarly, the attraction of foreign investors in the land had also developed the economy of the region, which paved a better way for the development and growth of the economy. However, the war of the cities, which led to hundreds of thousands dead, brought the Iraqi economy on its knees (Razoux, 2015). Subsequently, the booming of its primary refining and oil tankers ushered the nation into the early stages of economic hardship. As a result, the Iraqi, under the leadership, of an atrocious dictator, decided to invade the neighboring country Kuwait for commercial gain, aiming to control the region, and its market, seeking to reinstate the Iraqi economy.

As the Iran-Iraq war left painful memories and destroying the legacy of the Islamic upraise, a new war was already brewing courtesy of Saddam Hussein. The United States and Great Britain opposed the invasion of Kuwait, which led to the Persian Gulf War between 1990-1991 (Campbell, & Falk, 2015). Never the less, after the defeat in the war, the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein managed to endure the waves of bitter opposition, and remained in power. The United Nations imposed several trading sanctions, which exposed the entire nation into an economic depression, as well as being a way of limiting the future aggression of the Iraqi on invading Kuwait again. Never the less, the sanctions limited the progress of Iraqi's most lethal arm programs, which included the secrete development of biological, nuclear weapons (Dodge, 2017). Additionally, the world had seen the destruction of biological weapons in 1988, when Saddam Hussain used them against the Iranians as well as his Iraqi people. The increasing heat against the development of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq brought about the need for controlling them, which marked the beginning of Iraq descanting further into centauries of economic hardship.

Justification of the US in the Iraq War

The United States entered the war with two distinctive agenda that aimed at liberating the crumbled Iraqi nation, which was driven by a congested economic recession. The Us sought at searching and destroying the alleged program associated with weapons of mass destruction. Subsequently, the United States also aimed at ending the dictatorial regime and reestablishing a democratic government.

From 1963 to 1991, the Iraq government produced and became one of the largest nations in the middle east that possessed biological weapons. Among the victims of these weapons were the Iranian, who suffered during the war against the Iraqi government, when they used them to get a better hold of the war. However, the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq soon changed the tables.

Shortly after the Iraqi defeat by the United States and Great Britain, the United Nations brought about harsh economic sanctions, that demanded the Iraqi government to destroy its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) (Campbell, & Falk, 2015). Little compliance was offered by the Iraqi government, as no transparency prevailed due to the dictatorial regime of President Saddam Hussein. However, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, soon proved that the Iraqi government had no possession of weapons of mass destruction, leading to the loss of popularity of the war from public support.

Iraq's Position

The invasion of Iraq raised mixed reactions to both supporters and those against the war, calling for total precision and observation of democracy. Perhaps the most notable changes that were brought by the invasion of the United States was the installation of democracy, which changed Iraq from a dictatorial, to a democratic government. However, since the invasion of Iraq, there has been an array of mixed trails of distractions across the nation.

Hardly was the ink dry in the first signing and commissioning of the invasion, did Paul Bremer III, the head of Coalition Provisional Authority situated in Iraq, signed an order disbanding the Iraqi army. The primary aim of this concept was to increase the rigidity and control of the region, as those close to Saddam Hussein fought against the coalition. The order disbanded the Iraqi intelligence services as well, sending hundreds of thousands of well-trained soldiers into the streets to torture innocent citizens.

Despite the effort in finding Democracy in Iraq, the invasion led to an increase in suicide booming, which was fueled by the stronghold of Al-Qaeda. As a result of disbanding the Iraqi army, it became evident that most of the intelligence and military experience was now used for a new concept of terrorism. Additionally, the dismantling of the military increased the rates of kidnappings, and strengthening of terrorism, which spread all across Iraq. In the bottom line, the terrorism activities have increased, due to the availability of experienced ex-soldiers, that are joining the rebels.

References

Campbell, K. J., & Falk, R. A. (2015). Tale of Two Quagmires: Iraq, Vietnam, and the Hard Lessons of War. Routledge.

Dodge, T. (2017). Iraq-from war to a new authoritarianism. Routledge.

Razoux, P. (2015). The Iran-Iraq War. Harvard University Press.

Schwartz, M. (2016). War without end: The Iraq war in context. Haymarket books.