I might be getting mixed up here but can some one put me right please, thanks in advance
2007-03-31 14:44:47 · 11 answers · asked by tricia l 2 in News & Events ➔ Current Events
No actually, in the Iran - Iraq war (1980-1988) the US backed Iraq, and actually engaged in combat against Iranian forces, mainly in naval/air battles during operations to protect oil tankers.
US support was mostly because the US was against the Islamic revolution in Iran (the old "lesser of two evils" thing. Also Iraq has more oil than Iran.)
This severely pissed off Iran because the war started as an Iraq invasion of Iran and they took a beating; about half a million casualties including about 100,000 killed by Iraqi chemical weapons. Also on July 3, 1988 we (accidentally?) shot down Iran Air Flight 655 and killed all 290 on board.
Iraq made no mention of hostility against Iran in the Persian Gulf War, probably because the Iran-Iraq war had been mostly a stalemate. Iraq invaded Kuwait to pay for it's Iran war debt. Kuwait had actually supported Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war.
The main threat was that Iraq would attack/invade Saudi Arabia, which was/is a US "ally"
Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran-Iraq_war
Edit: I apologize I assumed you were American but in the event you are British (which makes more sense now that I think about it) the above mainly still applies as the US and UK are staunch allies. Support was still given to Iraq by the UK during the Iran-Iraq War.
2007-03-31 14:51:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 1⤋
No the West supported (and sold arms to) Saddam's regime in Iraq, because the Iranians had overthrown the Western Ally, the Shah of Iran, before invading Iraq.
It was felt important that Iran should fail as there aim was to spread Fundamentalist Islam around the entire Persian Gulf region, and had Iraq been defeated the oilfields of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would have been under threat.
However by arming and sitting idly by while Saddam also took the opportunity to slaughter his own people, we created the monster that he became.
2007-04-01 09:41:16 · answer #2 · answered by Timothy M 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Iran also has a bone to pick with the US. At the time the US invaded Iraq, they were not a threat to Iran.
2007-03-31 21:51:44 · answer #3 · answered by Darcia 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well done Timothy
To many folk just yap away, with no real understanding of the different problems the governments have to balance in their dealings with the world.
Too many time in the past 50 years, British soldiers have given their lives to give others freedom.
Compare that with the performance of the present Iranian leadership.
2007-04-01 16:50:54 · answer #4 · answered by jimgdad 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, Iran has had conflicting interests when it came to the US and the allies. The UK went along with the US as it was in line with diplomacy and the balance of power as well as support when things might have got tough,
2007-04-01 02:39:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
At the time of the Iraq-Iran war, the U.S. was supporting Sadam and his government. our interests were then (and still are) oil that Iraq controlled.
We supplied Saddam with arms and other support during that war.
2007-03-31 21:53:40 · answer #6 · answered by afreshpath_admin 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you are getting mixed up.
Iraq, under Sadam, did invade Iran and we were helping Sadam. But he lost that war and invaded Kuwait for its oil, and we invaded Iraq for its oil.
2007-03-31 22:04:32 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
No, we sold weapons to Iraq to help them slaughter the Iranians
2007-03-31 21:59:57 · answer #8 · answered by Pat 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
we along with the yanks supplied iraq with arms
2007-03-31 21:48:06 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
iraq invaded kuwait
2007-03-31 21:48:11 · answer #10 · answered by krissydee9282 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋