The Iran-Iraq War Essay -- War Middle East Essays

The Iran-Iraq War While the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980's may have permanently altered the course of progress in Iran and Iraq, the war also altered the resulting permanent involvement of the rest of the world in the middle-east. The rich and complicated history in Iraq has established numerous cultural and ethnic traditions that all play a part in where the country is today. The Iran-Iraq War brought into focus some of those traditions and how they conflicted, while also bringing Iraq and its economic situation into the spotlight. Being on top of some of the most mineral rich soil in the world makes Iraq a major contributor to the world's economy through petroleum and crude oil exports. This, among other reasons, ties nations all around the world to Iraq. As a result the Iran-Iraq War played a major role, and was a major turning point, in the international events that have led to the United States involvement in Iraq, including the Gulf War/Desert Storm, and the recent 2003 invasion of Iraq. This American presence in Iraq has also led to United States involvement with the middle-east in general and has pulled the United States into an area of conflict far older than itself. Iraq is part of what was anciently known as Mesopotamia, or ?the land between two rivers.? The region where the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers come together has come to be known as the ?Cradle of Civilization,? and when studied to any degree, one can easily understand why the conflicts in modern-day are so complex. First it was the Sumerians who settled Mesopotamia back in 4000BC, than it was Akkadians, then the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians. By the seventh century AD, the Arab Muslims had emerged as a ruling force and the ... ...2. Pelletiere, Stephen C. and Johnson, Douglas V. Lessons Learned : The Iran-Iraq War. Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. Carlisle Barracks, Pennslyvania. 1991. Pelletiere, Stephen C., Johnson, Douglas V., and Rosenburger, Leif R. Iraqi Power and U.S. Security in the Middle East. Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. Carlisle Barracks, Pennslyvania. 1990. Staff Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate : Chemical Weapons Use In Kurdistan : Iraq?s Final Offensive. U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington D.C. 1988. http://www.iranchamber.com/history. May 2003. http://www.news.bbc.co.uk. January 2001. http://Lcweb2.loc.gov. May 2003. http://www.truthout.org. June 2001. Vanity Fair, January and February 2002, as well as Time, March 10, 2003, were all indirectly cited as well.