Editing Saddam Hussein (section)

==== Warfare ====
{{Main|Iraqi invasion of Iran}}
[[File:Adnan Khairallah with Saddam.jpg|thumb|[[Adnan Khairallah]] (1940–1989), the Defence Minister, being awarded by Saddam.]]
[[Iraqi invasion of Iran|Iraq invaded Iran]] on 22 September 1980, first [[22 September 1980 Iraqi airstrike on Iran|launching airstrikes on numerous targets in Iran]], including the [[Mehrabad Airport]] of [[Tehran]], before occupying the oil-rich Iranian province of [[Khuzestan province|Khuzestan]], which also has a sizable [[Khuzestani Arabs|Arab minority]].<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> The invasion was initially successful, as Iraq captured more than 25,900&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> of Iranian territory by 5 December 1980.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hiro |first=Dilip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hBqJDwAAQBAJ |title=Cold War in the Islamic World: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Struggle for Supremacy |date=1 February 2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-005022-1 |pages=97 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> Khuzestan and Basra were the main focus of the war, and the primary source of their economies. With the support of other Arab states, the United States, and Europe, and heavily financed by the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Saddam became "defender of the Arab world" against a revolutionary, fundamentalist Shia Iran. Consequently, many viewed Iraq as "an agent of the civilized world."<ref name="PIRRR" /> He fought Iran mainly to prevent the expansion of Shi'a radicalism.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" />

The blatant disregard of international law and violations of international borders were ignored.<ref name="PIRRR" /> Instead Iraq received economic and military support from its allies, who overlooked Saddam's use of chemical warfare against the Kurds and the Iranians, in addition to Iraq's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.<ref name="PIRRR" /> In the first days of the war, there was heavy ground fighting around strategic ports as Iraq launched an attack on Khuzestan.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> After making some initial gains, Iraq's troops began to suffer losses from [[human wave attack]]s by Iran.<ref name="PIRRR" /> Meanwhile, Saddam's efforts to develop nuclear weapons faced a setback when Iraq's [[Osirak Nuclear Reactor|nuclear reactor]] was destroyed on 7 June 1981 by an Israeli [[Operation Opera|air strike]].<ref name="Osirak">BBC, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7/newsid_3014000/3014623.stm 1981: Israel bombs Baghdad nuclear reactor], ''BBC On This Day 7 June 1981'' referenced 6 January 2007</ref> By 1982, Iraq was on the defensive and looking for ways to end the war.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> Iraq quickly found itself bogged down in one of the longest and most destructive [[Attrition warfare|wars of attrition]] of the 20th century.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> 

During the war, Iraq used [[chemical weapon]]s against Iranian forces fighting on the southern front and Kurdish separatists who were attempting to open up a northern front in Iraq with the help of Iran.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> [[Tariq Aziz]] later acknowledged [[Iraqi chemical attacks against Iran|Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran]], but said that Iran had used them against Iraq first.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Schmemann |first1=Serge |last2=Times |first2=Special To the New York |date=2 July 1988 |title=Iraq Acknowledges Its Use of Gas But Says Iran Introduced It in War |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/02/world/iraq-acknowledges-its-use-of-gas-but-says-iran-introduced-it-in-war.html |access-date=16 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> The Iranians, demanding that the international community should force Iraq to pay war reparations to Iran, refused any suggestions for a cease-fire.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> Despite several [[United Nations Security Council Resolutions concerning Iraq|calls for a ceasefire]] by the [[United Nations Security Council]], hostilities continued until 20 August 1988.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> It was not until 20 July 1988 that Iran accepted [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 598|Resolution 598]], mainly due to poor morale, economic collapse, and Iraq's highly successful [[Tawakalna ala Allah Operations]], which effectively brought the war to an end.<ref name="efraimkarsh">{{cite book |author=Karsh, Efraim |title=The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988 |date=25 April 2002 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1841763712 |pages=1–8, 12–16, 19–82}}</ref> [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] states: "Estimates of total casualties range from 1,000,000 to twice that number.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> The number killed on both sides was perhaps 500,000, with Iran suffering the greatest losses."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Iran-Iraq War |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Iran-Iraq-War |access-date=27 January 2022}}</ref> Neither side had achieved what they had originally desired and the borders were left nearly unchanged.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" />
[[File:Iraqi Navy Officers receiving awards in 1988.png|thumb|Navy Commanders receiving awards shortly after the end of the war from Saddam, 1988]]
The southern, oil rich and prosperous areas were almost completely destroyed and were left at pre-1979 border, while Iran managed to make some small gains on its borders in the Northern Kurdish area.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> Both economies, previously healthy and expanding, were left in ruins.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> Saddam borrowed tens of billions of dollars from other Arab states and a few billions from elsewhere.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> This backfired on Iraq and Arab states, as Khomeini was widely perceived as a hero by his supporters for managing to defend Iran and maintain the war with little foreign support against the heavily backed Iraq and only managed to boost Islamic radicalism not only within the Arab states, but within Iraq itself, creating new tensions between the Sunni Ba'ath Party and the majority Shi'a population.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" /> Faced with rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and internal resistance, Saddam desperately re-sought cash, this time for postwar reconstruction.<ref name="HISTORY-2021" />