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Gheirat
The war with Iraq was not Khomeini's fault

By Nima Kasraie
January 17, 2002
The Iranian

I'm writing this comment as a response to Mehrdad Pishehgar's "I feel better now". I feel there is one issue he shouldn't be feeling so better about, and that is his efforts in trying to wash the gonaah (sin) off of Saddam's shoulders. I am hoping that you will post my reply on your website. Here is my reply.

1. If Saddam's invasion of Iran was merely a response to Khomeini's threat of exporting the revolution, Saddam would not declare the annexation of Khuzestan Province to Iraq as Iraq's objective. There was much more to Iraq's claim over Khuzestan than what books claim about the Shatt-ul-Arab waterway, the 3 islands, and previous "border skirmishes".

Exporting the revolution may have given Saddam a pretext, but the devil had dreamed up his plans before the revolution. One can still remember Saddam congratulating Khorramshahr for "taking off its mourning clothes and putting on it's Arabic dress". And they are still at it: trying to separate "Arabistan" from Iran (see //www.al-ahwaz.com)

2. About why we did not stop the war after we regained lost territory from Iraq: Accepting a ceasefire or making peace with Iraq after liberation of our territory in 82 was not in the interest of the Iranian nation due to the fact that after the liberation of Khorramshahr, the Iranian forces did not have a stabilized position on the war fronts. Basically ceasefire is accepted only when the military commanders establish a secure line on the war fronts so that they can confront the enemy if the cease fire is violated.

However, the liberation of Khorramshahr could not fulfill this condition. Secondly, before the liberation of Khorramshahr, the Security Council had not issued a resolution on the conflict between Iran and Iraq. Therefore, after the liberation of Khorramshahr, there was no resolution to be used as the basis for settling the conflict between Iran and Iraq. Hence, accepting a ceasefire after the liberation of Khorramshahr would only have disheartened the Iranian forces and given relief to the Iraqi aggressors.

Furthermore, military decisions should be studied only within the framework of conditions in which they were taken. Therefore, given the course of the military operations, the decisions made by the Iranian military commanders at that time (and not "the mollas") were the best decisions that were APPROVED by senior officials of the country.

And finally, when Hitler was pushed back to his original borderlines late in WW2, did the allies stop there and say:"Okay, we've liberated our lands. Lets not spill more blood?" What makes you think Saddam was any better of an evil creature than Hitler, deserving anything better?

3. And finally, what made me agitated was Mr Pishehgar's statement: "Most of those who served in the war, especially after regaining control of Iranian territories, went there against their will". That is a flagrant erroneous claim that has been disseminating on the web lately.

I strongly claim that such claims are outrageously untrue. And I can tell you this from my personal experience. That war didn't have anything to do with Khomeini. It was a simple matter of gheirat (no translation for this one, a truly unique word). Many of those volunteers were my colleagues, fellow university students, Baseeji comrades, gol koochik pals, family friends, cousins and nephews, and bacheh mahals (next door neighbors).

And if we were unknowingly firing Israeli weapons, I am sure that Israel did not sell those weapons to us because of "delsoozi" (sympathy). Furthermore, many of those weapons sold to us from Israel (as they claim), never actually worked. The Hawk missiles, for example, turned out to be defective and were never used.

One should NEVER downplay the braveries during that war. That war was an epic of astronomical and magnanimous proportions that begs someone like Ferdowsi to come and immortalize. I always feel sorrow for those who do not comprehend the meaning of shahaadat (martyrdom).

I will immensely appreciate it if our Iranian.com hosts will attach this picture (which I'm sure many of you have seen before) to my letter. May those who served in that war be remembered. They were the true Iranians. Those volunteers who died to protect the namoos (chastity) of Iranzameen.

Comment for The Iranian letters section Comment for the writer Nima Kasraie