- #1
misskitty
- 737
- 0
Iraq ad Iran are neighbors. Yet they seem to truly dispise one another. What is this hatred based on? Why are they so passionate about it? What started it?
~Kitty
~Kitty
"Although the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–1988 was a war over dominance of the Persian Gulf region, the roots of the war go back many centuries. There has always been rivalry between various kingdoms of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and Persia (Iran).
More precisely, the origins of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–1988 go back to the question of sovereignty over the resource-rich province of Khuzestan. Khuzestan, home to Iran's Elamite Empire, was an independent non-Semitic speaking kingdom whose capital was Susa. Khuzestan has, however, been attacked and occupied by various kingdoms of Mesopotamia (the precursors of modern Iraq) many times."
edward said:Watch out for this one. The USA encouraged Saddam to use chemical weapons against the Iranians during the 1980's war.
The first chemical Saddam used was a concentrated pesticide (methylisocyanide). It was manufactured in Bophal India at a plant owned by Union Carbide. [It will be difficuult if not impossibe to find a link to this as it happened so long ago.] Other chemical agents were soon to follow.
And the purchase of the chemicals by Iraq was accomplished through loans guaranteed by the USA
Good point. Especially since the most popular and influential man in Iraq right now, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is an Iranian.SOS2008 said:Perhaps an even more interesting question would be what is the relationship now, and what will it be going forward?
Iran and Iraq are both comprised mainly of shi'ite muslims as opposed to most of the middle east which are Sunni. Now the Shi'ites are in charge in Iraq (following the overthrow of the Ba'athist Sunni gov't) it seems perfectly natural that they would have close ties with Iran. I'm surprised the American gov't didn't forsee this very dangerous (for them) eventuality when they put together their plans to remove Sadam from power??Smurf said:I think the current Iraqi government tactics are quite clever. Since Iran is getting nuclear weapons Iraq has to be friendly with the US, so they'll protect them. But instead, they're using the US's current occupation to move away from the US and snuggle up to Iran, so that when the US does pull out, they won't need them anymore because they would have, hopefully, been on friendly terms with Iran for a while.
This allows them to move away from the states, and take care of themselves. Quite clever since the US is stuck there no matter what for the time being.
It does seem quite silly that they wouldn't predict that. It's kind of funny, you know, that the Media was protraying the Sunni's as the bad guys and Shi'ites as good guys for so long, and not it looks like the US is really starting to claw at Iran. Goes to show the US really doesn't care about the history and ethnics of the area, it's all politics.Art said:Iran and Iraq are both comprised mainly of shi'ite muslims as opposed to most of the middle east which are Sunni. Now the Shi'ites are in charge in Iraq (following the overthrow of the Ba'athist Sunni gov't) it seems perfectly natural that they would have close ties with Iran. I'm surprised the American gov't didn't forsee this very dangerous (for them) eventuality when they put together their plans to remove Sadam from power??
I don't know about that, have there been any reports that it's mainly shi'ites (as in, not just proportional to the population numbers/density in hot areas) being killed and mainly sunni's are insurgents (I would think that, aside from those fanatical groups like Zarqawi, that it wouldn't really be a huge difference)This rivalry / hatred between the Sunnis and Shi'ites is also why the foreign insurgents are targeting the Shi'ite civilian population.
Zarqawi is the main leader of the foreign insurgents. In his statements he refers to the Shi'ites as something less than human which should be exterminated. Many of the attacks on civilians have been carried out by his followers against Shi'ite mosques.Smurf said:I don't know about that, have there been any reports that it's mainly shi'ites (as in, not just proportional to the population numbers/density in hot areas) being killed and mainly sunni's are insurgents (I would think that, aside from those fanatical groups like Zarqawi, that it wouldn't really be a huge difference)
The rest of this piece is at http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH11Ak01.htmlThe Iranian nightmare
By Michael Schwartz
In 1998, neo-conservative theorist Robert Kagan enunciated what would become a foundational belief of Bush administration policy. He asserted, "A successful intervention in Iraq would revolutionize the strategic situation in the Middle East, in ways both tangible and intangible, and all to the benefit of American interests."
Now, over two years after Baghdad fell and the American occupation of Iraq began, Kagan's prediction appears to have been fulfilled - in reverse. The chief beneficiary of the occupation and the chaos it produced has not been the Bush administration, but Iran, the most populous and powerful member of the "axis of evil" and the chief American competitor for dominance in the oil-rich region. As diplomatic historian Gabriel Kolko commented, "By destroying a united Iraq under [Saddam] Hussein ... the US removed the main barrier to Iran's eventual triumph."
You're talking about that time? It's not strange because every king's wanted to develope his country at that time like other countries. And you know Iraqis are Arab but Iranian aren't. And perhaps it caused some problems for them. It's strange if you think they'res till fighting because they were fighting 200 years ago.misskitty said:They were feuding well before the U.S. and other world countries came into the picture. As Pattylou said earlier, they were fighting back into Mesopotamian times. That is well before our history. I was wondering why they have been arguing and fighting for so long. I doubt their feud from that time has anything to do with the U.S.
~Kitty
I don't think the hatred btw them would be true yet since all muslim are in trouble after sep. 11th.Art said:Iran and Iraq are both comprised mainly of shi'ite muslims as opposed to most of the middle east which are Sunni. Now the Shi'ites are in charge in Iraq (following the overthrow of the Ba'athist Sunni gov't) it seems perfectly natural that they would have close ties with Iran. I'm surprised the American gov't didn't forsee this very dangerous (for them) eventuality when they put together their plans to remove Sadam from power??
This rivalry / hatred between the Sunnis and Shi'ites is also why the foreign insurgents are targeting the Shi'ite civilian population.
Well, that's interesting.The Smoking Man said:I think I'll go and check Al Jazeera and see if there isn't something that is missing from this story.
Interesting. So nuclear weapons and Bin Laden aren't bad if you have a good relationship with US!The Smoking Man said:Well, that's interesting.
While you have been waffling over Iran, Pakistan just successfully test fired it's first nuclear cruise missile.
You remember Pakistan, don't you? ... American ally and home of the guy who supplied Korea, Libya and half the other rogue nations in the middle east with the instructions and materials to make nukes!? You know ... the one who was pardoned the day after he admitted it!?
You know ... the country Bin Laden is living in.
You know ... Where the Taliban originated!
Get the feeling bush is saying 'look over here ... the light is better!'
No no no.The Smoking Man said:Well, that's interesting.
While you have been waffling over Iran, Pakistan just successfully test fired it's first nuclear cruise missile.
You remember Pakistan, don't you? ... American ally and home of the guy who supplied Korea, Libya and half the other rogue nations in the middle east with the instructions and materials to make nukes!? You know ... the one who was pardoned the day after he admitted it!?
You know ... the country Bin Laden is living in.
You know ... Where the Taliban originated!
Get the feeling bush is saying 'look over here ... the light is better!'
If this was a Twilight Zone, I'd swear the Pakistanis would have a book that said ... To Serve Americans.
No Nuclear weapons arn't bad if you have them. It's only when you're in the process of trying to get them that they're bad. Otherwise the US would be twice as bad as second place on account of how many they have.Lisa! said:Interesting. So nuclear weapons and Bin Laden aren't bad if you have a good relationship with US!
This is why most countries try to keep it a secret until they actually have a warhead.Smurf said:No Nuclear weapons arn't bad if you have them. It's only when you're in the process of trying to get them that they're bad. Otherwise the US would be twice as bad as second place on account of how many they have.
It seems to me that the iraqi government wants the USA out as much as the terrorists, but the Iraqi government knows that without the US they would probably be toppled within a week. It's a matter of necessity, and really the USA can't do much about it short of declaring war on the new *democratic* iraqi government they started. Once Iraq decides they don't need the states any more they're going to kick them out.Lisa! said:Smurf, what are you saying is really strange since Iran isn't allowed to do uraniom enrichment. Iraq government is close to US because they have the power in Iraq. They didn't take the power from Sadam to leave it to Iraqi and they leave Iraq.
Two thins.I don't know why US do nothing about India, Pakistan and Israel.
Every war? You mean depleted uranium? There's a thread on that somewhere, you should read up on it.And more strange is that nobody says nothing about US' nuclear weapons since they use theses weapons in every war.
Hey, you're not getting any argument from me.Don't forget that it was US to use them in world war II. Anyway I think theses weapons are dangerous and no country should be allowed to have them esp. those countries who interferes to other countries.
Here's a thought.rachmaninoff said:Perhaps the administration will try to negotiate Iran out of nuclear ambitions, by giving them conventional arms. Maybe appease them with a couple of thousand of missiles and rockets and stuff - all secretly, of course. And use the profits to fund mercenaries to terrorize* Venezuela and overthrow Hugo Chavez. They still got Powell and Poindexter and the whole crew, so why not?
*we'll call them "freedom fighters"
So the US army can go pick them up?The Smoking Man said:Then transmit the location via Al Jazeera
You mean those 150,000 pissed off guys in Iraq?Smurf said:So the US army can go pick them up?
Are you kidding?Smurf said:No Nuclear weapons arn't bad if you have them. It's only when you're in the process of trying to get them that they're bad. Otherwise the US would be twice as bad as second place on account of how many they have.