A blow-by-blow account of how two wars have affected the fortunes
of two nations. Drawing on myriad sources, from newspapers to
interviews, Hiro ("Desert Shield to Desert Storm", not reviewed)
presents a good primer on contemporary Iraqi and Iranian history.
Both Gulf Wars-the first (1980-88) between Iraq and Iran, the
second (1991) between Iraq and a coalition of forces headed by the
US-led to divergent consolidations of power. In Iraq, after both
wars, Saddam Hussein tightened his control. In Iran, the first war
solidified the Islamic revolution in giving the Iranian people a
common enemy, while the second provided oxygen to a moderate
movement that led to the election of current President Muhammad
Khatami in 1997. The author devotes much time to Hussein's takeover
of the Baath party apparatus, his build-up of the Republican Guard,
and his control of the intelligence and security services, which
have enabled him to keep a thumb on his would-be challengers and US
spies. He gives a pretty clear diagram of Iran's numerous religious
and non-religious government bodies (which are currently wrestling
with each other over social and economic reforms), and documents
how the US (under Presidents Bush and Clinton) sought to isolate
both Iraq and Iran economically and diplomatically-despite
significant differences between the police-state government of the
former and the vibrant, partially democratic culture of the latter.
He argues that Bush chose to leave Hussein in power so as not to
allow Iran to profit from his demise, and that Clinton cynically
bombed Iraq to halt impeachment proceedings then being raised
against him in Congress. Unfortunately, Hiro never directly
synthesizes this material, and his account is divided in half-with
each country dealt with separately in its own section. Indeed, each
section could have been its own historical monograph. Necessary, if
painstaking, reading for anyone interested in the contemporary
history of two "rogue" states. (Kirkus Reviews)
This highly controversial and topical book provides the first full, balanced account of how Iraq cheated the UN inspectors on disarmament, and how the US manipulated and infiltrated the UN inspection teams and other staff to gather intelligence on Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Aimed at the general reader, it follows and assesses the role of Saddam Hussein, who became president of Iraq in 1979 and shows no sign of relinquishing office.
Dilip Hiro, an experienced journalist who has written extensively on the region, provides a historical and accessible perspective to the relationship between Iraq and Iran, and examines the consequences of internationally significant events such as the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran about a year after the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Providing a full account and analysis of events in Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, he contrasts the continuing totalitarianism under Hussein with the evolution of the political-religious system in Iran and the development of its internal politics.
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