The Gulf War (Routledge Library Editions: War and Security in the Middle East) - Softcover

Bulloch, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138671029 ISBN 13: 9781138671027

Publisher: Routledge, 2017

Synopsis

After a million deaths and twice that number injured, after the destruction of much of the infrastructure of Iran and Iraq, disruption of trade throughout the Gulf and the involvement of the USA and USSR, was the Gulf War a pointless exercise, a futile conflict which achieved nothing and left the combatants at the end of it all back in exactly the same position from which they started in 1980? In this book, first published in 1989, the authors argue that the lack of territorial gain was irrelevant: the real advantages won by each side were far more important, intangible though they were. For Iran, the channelling of the energies of her people away from domestic concerns meant the continuation of the Islamic revolution and ensured the stability of the mullahs. In Iraq, the war propped up the increasingly shaky regime of Saddam Hussein. The outside world, especially the superpowers, was terrified of the spread of Muslim fundamentalism, so made no effort to prevent Iraq from trying to halt this spread. But Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the oil states also had vested interests in promoting the continuation of the war.

About this title

From Library Journal

This book by two veteran British journalists describes various facets of the Iran-Iraq war. The authors provide an especially succinct analysis of the causes of the war and the failure of Iraq's early blitzkrieg to achieve victory. They also examine in some depth the role of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf in supporting Saddam Hussein's war effort against Iran. The authors portray a somewhat sympathetic picture of Washington's motives in confronting the Islamic Republic by supporting Iraq. A shorter, equally interesting but less ethnocentric volume on this subject is Dilip Hiro's The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict ( LJ 2/1/91). Recommended for public libraries and informed laypersons. Previewed in "The Gulf War in Print," LJ 3/15/91, p. 104.--Ed.
- Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, Ala.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1138671029
• ISBN 13: 9781138671027
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 346