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The Iran–Iraq War was the longest sustained conventional
war of the 20th Century. Lasting from 22 September
1980 to 20 August 1988, the seven years, ten months, and
twenty–nine days of this conflict are some of the least understood
in modern military history. The War of Sacred Defense
to the Iranians and War of Second Qadissiya to Iraqis is the
true “forgotten war” of our times. Seemingly never ending
combat on a scale not witnessed since WWI and WWII was
the norm. Casualties were popularly held to be enormous
and, coupled with the lack of battlefield resolution year after
year, led to frequent comparisons with the Western Front of
WWI. Despite the fact that Iran had been the victim of naked
Iraqi aggression, it was the Iraqis who were viewed as the
“good guys” and actively supported by most nations in the
world as well as the world press.
Studying the Iran–Iraq War is beset with difficulties.
Much of the reporting done on the war was conducted in a
slipshod manner. Both Iraq and Iran tended to exaggerate
each other’s losses. As oftentimes Iraqi claims were the only
source, accounts of Iranian losses became exaggerated. The
data is highly fragmentary, often contradictory, usually vague
in particulars, and often suspect as a whole. It defies complete
reconciliation or adjudication in a quantitative sense as
will be eviden... >>>