Iraq War

Iraq War

Iraq War : The Iran-Iraq war lasted from September 22, 1980 until August 20, 1988 and started mainly because of religious, political, and geographical differences. The problems between Iran and Iraq aroused far before the war actually started. But, it was until after the Iranian revolution, when Iraq decided to attack and invade.
They knew that it would be the perfect time, because Iran was already weak from the revolution and it would be overwhelming for Iran to fight back for their territory. There was really no point in having the war, because both countries really ended up with nothing but a huge number of lives lost, and not to mention, a great deal of money as well.
The Iran-Iraq war was a very expensive war. It was very unique, not only because of its financial outcomes, but because it was also a war within a war. The two nations that were fighting were being supported by the two military super powers of the world. The United States supported Iran while The Soviet Union supported Iraq. The overall cost of the war, was 1.9 trillion U.S. Dollars.
The war started over border disputes. The waterway of Persian Gulf was used as a cut off line between the two countries. As a result, Iraq ended up invading Iran. Iraq changed their strategy after several attacks/invasions from the Iranian camp. They went from putting on a strong offense to hanging on defensively. This war unveiled the MIG-29 and heavy use of chemicals to destroy the opposing side. U.S gave Iran F-14 fighters for air support against Iraq, after one of their Navy Carriers was destroyed. Iraq was heavily supported by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union spent over 20 billion American dollars on helping the country. They trained them for on foot battle and air force support (the MIG fighter is an example). The U.S. supported Iran by selling them aircrafts worth over 200 million dollars. They charged Iran a lot of money, so that they can make a huge profit off the war. US spending millions on flight support for Iran and Iraq made this war quite a great thing for the United States. In the end, the war was stopped by the United Nations who decided for a cease fire, leaving it in a stalemate.
So, mainly the whole purpose of the war, was basically the borderline between the two countries. In 1971, several islands located in the Persian Gulf, belonging to Iraq, were taken over by Iran. Religion was another reason why a war spewed between the two. Islamic propaganda was spread to Iraq from Iran, and the government of Iraq was scared that the Iraqi Shi’is would revolt and begin a revolution opposing the propaganda that was brought from Iran. Iraq felt that the best time to hit Iran, would be after their Islamic Revolution, for Iran would be weak and it would be a breeze for Iraq to take away Iranian territory for themselves.