BACKGROUND OF WAR:
- It was an invasion led by Saddam Hussein
- It was inordinately protracted, lasting longer than either world war, essentially because Iran did not want to end it, while Iraq could not
- it was sharply asymmetrical in the means employed by each side, because though both sides exported oil and purchased military imports throughout, Iraq was further subsidized and supported by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, allowing it to acquire advanced weapons and expertise on a much larger scale than Iran
- When Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq,started the war, he misread on two counts: first, in attacking a country greatly unorganized by revolution but also greatly energized by it-and whose regime could be greatly strenghted only by a long patriotic war, as with all revolutionary regimes; and second, at the level of theater strategy, in launching a surprise invasion against a very large country
- By 1988 Iran was discouraged by the failure of its many offensives over the years, by the prospect of the casualties, by its ability to import civilian goods as well as military supplies, and by the Scud missile attacks on Teheran.
- It was an invasion led by Saddam Hussein