The Iran-Iraq War: Chaos in a Vacuum

by Stephen C. Pelletière

Overview

This book is a major reinterpretation of the Iran-Iraq War and is a source for reexamining the U.S. involvement in the Gulf. Pelletiere demonstrates that the war was not a standoff in which Iraq finally won a grinding war of attrition through luck, persistence, and the use of poison gas. Instead, Iraq planned the last campaign almost two years prior to its unfolding. [The Iraqis] trained extensively and expended enormous sums of money to make their effort succeed. What won for them was their superior fignting prowess and greater commitment. Gas—if it was used at all—played only a minor part in the victory.'

Pelletiere concludes that the key to understanding the war is the Extraordinary Congress of the Ba'th Party held in July 1986. It was there that the initial planning for the final campaign was done, and this campaign is what decided the fate of the conflict. The study centers around the last Iraqi campaign, which Pelletiere argues was based upon World War II blitzkrieg tactics, but he also treats the background, the politics, and the history of the conflict, and analyzes the significance of the war to the Middle East and to the position of the United States there.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275938437
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/30/1992
Series:	Wvss on the Middle East
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1310L (what's this?)

About the Author

STEPHEN C. PELLETIERE is Professor of National Security at the United States Army War College. He has written two of the most influential studies of the Iran-Iraq War—Iraqi Power and U.S. Security in the Middle East (with D.V. Johnson II and L.R. Rosenberger) and Lessons Learned: The Iran-Iraq War (with D.V. Johnson II)—which were circulated widely among the U.S. military during the Kuwait crisis. From 1982 until 1987 he was an intelligence officer in Washington working on the Iran-Iraq War.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Origins of the War
Iraq's Decision to Go to War
Why Iran Invaded Iraq
The Static Defense Phase
Al Faw
Karbala
Tawakalna ala Allah
Epilogue
Appendix: Maps of Karbala Battles
Bibliography
Index