Part 23: Iraq Chapter II: The Iran-Iraq War (January 1980-October 1980)

Iraq Chapter II: The Iran-Iraq War (January 1980-October 1980)




In short, Mr. Director, Khoemeini is a clear and present danger to the region. The cities of Najaf and Karbala hold special significance to the followers of Shia Islam, and appear to be holy sites of some sort. Hussein was buried in one of them...no, not related to Saddam. Yes, Mr. Director, I know you have very little patience for Islamic theology. Anyway, my advice is to let the people in Rome know that NATO should have no objection to whatever Saddam has planned towards the Iranian radicals.





No, Mr. Director, Saddam isn't playing ball with us on that front. The Iraqis have called for embargoes on all of our allies at the UN, but clearly it's meant as a symbolic gesture, there's no chance of any of them actually passing.



It's not like he spares the Communists from his embargo talks, anyway.




Saddam has clear plans for aggressive action.




Similarly, we should covertly support South Africa, but not intervene too directly in this crisis.



I know you're concerned about the Soviet expeditionary force, but invading Angola would be dangerous, sir.




It would involve war with half of Africa for no obvious gain.



...Of course, if that's what President Carter wants, that's what we'll do. I'd be happy to assign one of our men to liaise with the Pentagon about this project. (Invading Angola, what are those lunatics thinking...)



Of course, covertly supporting the Eritreans will continue to be a mainstay of our policy.




The Khuzestan region of Iran is filled with Sunni Arabs who may be sympathetic to Saddam and are definitely skeptical of Khoemeini, and it contains quite a bit of oil and strategic Persian Gulf coastline...oh, sorry, you wanted the maps of the beaches of Luanda. The Angola War is your next briefing, sir.




The entire Asian continent is abuzz about these events, after all.



The Iran Iraq war is the bloodiest conflict of our times.



I was under the impression that Khoemeini's formidable rhetorical powers would inspire a blind fanaticism that would lead teenagers to clear mindfields by blindly running into them, but instead the Iranians have turned and ran almost without a fight.



Our South African allies are holding up well on their war, sir, maybe we really don't need to invade Angola to support them? What? OK, I'll stick to my briefing.



Tabriz has fallen. Tabriz is the historic capital of the Azerbaijani people, a Turkic nation now bisected between Persian and Soviet rule. The Azerb...Sorry, sir, one-page summary, I understand. Oil. Oil and ethnic tension.



The Iranians do fight when their backs are against the wall.



It's still not enough, though.




Tehran has fallen and the Iranians are retreating rather than using their numerical superiority to counterattack.



The Persians are on their last legs.



I never would have expected this campaign to only last two months, sir. You'll have to send Saddam a congratulatory bottle of cognac, I hear it's his favorite.




Peace has returned to the Middle East (ignore that Israel is completely occupied by Palestinian Nationalists).



The question arises: Will Saddam keep Persia, or will he install a puppet regime friendly to both us and them?

Thread question: do I release Iran? If I don't release Iran, rebels will utterly demolish me, if I do I'll lose most of the financial benefits of Iran's sweet sweet oil but I'll have a massive attack dog.