american involvement in the iraq/iran war

[The Sloth]

just two quick questions.

why did america want to maximize the casualties on both the iraqi and iranian sides of the conflict thru weapon sales ?

what was the american interest in the conflict (besides some possible access to khuzestan) ?

[Led Zeppelin]

Actually the US at first only supplied arms to Saddam, because they wanted to prevent the spread of the Islamic revolution.

They later on sold weapons to Iran because....they gave them money.

[Ice]

Originally posted by Brooklyn-[email protected] 13 2006, 12:58 AM
why did america want to maximize the casualties on both the iraqi and iranian sides of the conflict thru weapon sales ?


U.S.A is the biggest weapon manufacturer in the world and their economy largely depends on weapon manufacturing. So, to make more profits out of their weapon production they have to wage war’s on many countries and they also have to make other countries to fight among themselves. I think that’s one of the main reasons.

[Led Zeppelin]

and their economy largely depends on weapon manufacturing.

Prove this absurd claim.

[Janus]

Like ML said, the US were focused solely on the Iranians despite the fact that an Iraqi plane attacked a US Navy frigate.

During this period, much of Iraq's weapons came from the USSR and France. The international antipathy towards Iran also allowed Saddam to use chemical weapons against Iranian units with few repercussions.

The US didn't seek to maximize the war's casualties. It supplied arms to Iran in order to seek the release of Western hostages in Lebanon. This is disputed since the arms shipments began before the hostages were taken and ended long after the hostages were released.
The US policy towards Iraq was guided by realpolitik in which Iraq was seen as the lesser of the two evils and by its hatred against the Iranian government. It has also been revealed that the US corporations helped to supply Iraq with chemical weapons technology.

[Ice]

Originally posted by Marxism-[email protected] 13 2006, 03:26 PM


Prove this absurd claim.
just click (http://www.fas.org/asmp/fast_facts.htm) this link.

[JKP]

The war between Iran and Iraq was one of the great human tragedies of recent Middle Eastern history. Perhaps as many as a million people died, many more were wounded, and millions were made refugees. The resources wasted on the war exceeded what the entire Third World spent on public health in a decade.<1>

The war began on September 22, 1980, when Iraqi troops launched a full-scale invasion of Iran. Prior to this date there had been subversion by each country inside the other and also major border clashes. Iraq hoped for a lightning victory against an internationally isolated neighbor in the throes of revolutionary upheaval. But despite Iraq&#39;s initial successes, the Iranians rallied and, using their much larger population, were able by mid-1982 to push the invaders out. In June 1982, the Iranians went over to the offensive, but Iraq, with a significant advantage in heavy weaponry, was able to prevent a decisive Iranian breakthrough. The guns finally fell silent on August 20, 1988.

Primary responsibility for the eight long years of bloodletting must rest with the governments of the two countries -- the ruthless military regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the ruthless clerical regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. Khomeini was said by some to have a "martyr complex," though, as U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance wryly observed, people with martyr complexes rarely live to be as old as Khomeini. Whatever his complexes, Khomeini had no qualms about sending his followers, including young boys, off to their deaths for his greater glory. This callous disregard for human life was no less characteristic of Saddam Hussein. And, for that matter, it was also no less characteristic of much of the world community, which not only couldn&#39;t be bothered by a few hundred thousand Third World corpses, but tried to profit from the conflict.....

Read the rest here:
http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/ShalomIranIraq.html

[bolshevik butcher]

Yes, ML&#39;s right here. The iranian islamic revolution was a huge political event in the middle east and the U&#036; was willing to back anyone who would oppose it. A brutal but secular tyrant like Saddam was perfect for the job, so they focused all their energies on arming him to the teeth.

[Led Zeppelin]

just click this link.

Clicked it, still doesn&#39;t prove your claim, nowhere does it say that the US economy is largely based on weapons manufacturing, that claim is absurd, I, unlike you, can prove my position with facts:

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1%
industry: 20.7%
services: 78.3% (2005 est.)

As you can see most of the GDP isn&#39;t even centered around industrial production, it&#39;s centered around the service sector, weapons manufacturing is industrial production, if this doesn&#39;t disprove your claim already (which it does), here&#39;s some more proof:

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.3% (FY03 est.) (February 2004)

Only 3.3% of the GDP invested in the military, please.

(all data is from The CIA world factbook (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html))