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International aid to combatants in the Iran–Iraq War: Difference between revisions

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| Some financial support<ref name=bahadori05>{{cite paper|last=Bahadori|first=Mazi|title=The History and Politics of the Iran-Iraq War|url=http://www.iranian.com/History/2005/May/Bahadori/IranIraqWar.doc|format=DOC|date=2 May 2005|page=25|postscript=. University of California, Berkeley Department of History}}</ref>
| Some financial support and military exports<ref name=bahadori05>{{cite paper|last=Bahadori|first=Mazi|title=The History and Politics of the Iran-Iraq War|url=http://www.iranian.com/History/2005/May/Bahadori/IranIraqWar.doc|format=DOC|date=2 May 2005|page=25|postscript=. University of California, Berkeley Department of History}}</ref>
| Sale of military equipment, including fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, rocket launchers, tanks, and artillery<ref name=garver06>{{cite book|last=Garver|first=John W.|title=China and Iran: Ancient Partners In A Post-Imperial World|year=2006|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|isbn=9780295986319|pages=72, 80–81}}</ref>
| Sale of military equipment, including fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, rocket launchers, tanks, and artillery<ref name=garver06>{{cite book|last=Garver|first=John W.|title=China and Iran: Ancient Partners In A Post-Imperial World|year=2006|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|isbn=9780295986319|pages=72, 80–81}}</ref>
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Revision as of 17:57, 23 September 2013

During the Iran–Iraq War, both Iran and Iraq received large quantities of weapons and other material useful to the development of armaments and weapons of mass destruction.

Iran

Military support

Iran was backed by the Kurdish militias of KDP and PUK in North Iraq, both organizations in fact rebelling against Iraqi Ba'athist government with Iranian support.

Logistic support

Iran's foreign supporters gradually came to include Syria and Libya, through which it obtained Scud missiles.[citation needed] It purchased weaponry from North Korea and the People's Republic of China, notably the Silkworm anti-ship missile.[citation needed]

Iraq

Military support

Iraq was supported by an Iranian outcast armed party of Mujaheddin el-Halq, mainly engaging the pro-Iranian Kurdish forces in the North of Iraq, close to Iranian borders.

Logistic support

Iraq's army was primarily equipped with weaponry it had previously purchased from the Soviet Union and its satellites in the preceding decade. During the war, it also purchased billions of dollars worth of advanced equipment from France, the People's Republic of China, Egypt, Germany and other sources.[1] Iraq's three main suppliers of weaponry during the war were the Soviet Union followed by China and then France.[2]

The United States sold Iraq over $200 million in helicopters, which were used by the Iraqi military in the war. These were the only direct U.S.-Iraqi military sales. At the same time, the CIA began covertly directing non-U.S. origin hardware to Saddam Hussein's armed forces, "to ensure that Iraq had sufficient military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to avoid losing the Iran-Iraq war."[3]

Germany, the U.S. and United Kingdom also provided "dual use" technology that allowed Iraq to expand its missile program and radar defenses.

According to an uncensored copy of Iraq's 11,000-page declaration to the U.N., leaked to Die Tageszeitung and reported by The Independent, the know-how and material for developing unconventional weapons were obtained from 150 foreign companies, from countries such as West Germany, the U.S., France, UK, and the People's Republic of China.[4]

Iraq's main financial backers were the oil-rich Persian Gulf states, most notably Saudi Arabia ($30.9 billion), Kuwait ($8.2 billion) and the United Arab Emirates ($8 billion).[5]

The Iraqgate scandal revealed that an Atlanta branch of Italy's largest bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, relying largely on U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed loans, funneled $5 billion to Iraq from 1985 to 1989.

Controversies

United States

During the early years of the war, Iran's arsenal was almost entirely American-made, left over from the Imperial Armed Forces of the dethroned Shah.

Iran-Contra affair

Main article: Iran-Contra Affair

Iran acquired weapons and parts for its Shah-era U.S. systems through covert arms transactions from officials in the Reagan Administration, first indirectly through Israel and then directly. It was hoped Iran would, in exchange, persuade several radical groups to release Western hostages, though this did not result; proceeds from the sales were diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras in what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

Intelligence

Prior to the 1979 revolution, the U.S. had been providing intelligence to Iran. In mid-October 1979, at the request of the United States Department of State, a CIA officer went to Tehran and warned the government, mid-October 1979, of Iraq's plan to invade. U.S. cooperation of this type stopped when the U.S. embassy was seized.[6][dead link]

Strategic intent

Author George Crile, in his book Charlie Wilson's War, writes regarding CIA involvement in the Iran–Iraq War:[7]

As explained by Ed Juchniewicz - Avrakotos's patron and the number two man in the Operations Division at that time - they were just leveling the playing field: "We didn't want either side to have the advantage. We just wanted them to kick the shit out of each other".

In 1985, a CIA analyst, Graham Fuller, had proposed that the U.S. should offer to sell weapons to Iran, as a means of blocking Soviet influence there. Robert M. Gates, then head of the CIA National Intelligence Council, advanced the suggestion, which circulated over the signature of Director of Central Intelligence William Casey. The section was rejected by the incumbent Secretary of State George Schultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.[8]

Table

Country Support to Iraq Support to Iran
 Brazil Sale of ammunition, armoured cars, and tactical multiple rocket launcher[9][10] Major supplier[11]: 9 
 Egypt Military exports[12]
 France Sale of high-tech military equipment and uranium[13]
Israel Israel Clandestine support
 Italy Several billion dollars in funding; sale of land and sea mines as well as uranium[13] Sale of land and sea mines[14]
 Jordan Acted as main supply line
 Kuwait Financial support and conduit for arms sales[15][16]
 Portugal Sale of uranium[13] Sale of ammunition and explosives[11]: 8 
 Qatar Initial support,[17] though not openly[18]
 North Korea Sold domestically-produced arms; acted as an intermediate for covert sales by the Soviet Union, Soviet satellites, and China
 People's Republic of China Some financial support and military exports[19] Sale of military equipment, including fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, rocket launchers, tanks, and artillery[20]
 Saudi Arabia $20 billion in funding
 Singapore Provided chemical warfare precursors; acted as a transshipment point for weapons; was manufacturing site of foreign-designed weapons
 Spain Sale of conventional and chemical weapons, especially ammunition and explosives[21] Sale of weapons, especially ammunition and explosives[11]: 8 [21]
 Soviet Union Military equipment and advisors Covert military equipment sales
 United Arab Emirates Financial aid[15][22]
 United Kingdom Weapons-related equipment and ‘Sodium cyanide for chemical weapons and plutonium and gas spectrometers’
 United States Several billion dollars worth of economic aid; the sale of dual-use technology and non-U.S. origin weaponry; military intelligence; Special Operations training Secret arms sales (Iran-Contra affair)
 West Germany Sale of high-tech military equipment[23]
 Yugoslavia Weapons sales (more than $2 billion's worth)[24]
 South Africa Sale of military armament (Artillery systems)[25]

References

  1. ^ Timmerman, Kenneth R. The Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq. New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991.
  2. ^ "Sources used in compiling the database". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
  3. ^ Statement by former NSC official Howard Teicher to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida. Plain text version
  4. ^ Paterson, Tony. Leaked Report Says German and US Firms Supplied Arms to Saddam The Independent. December 18, 2002.
  5. ^ Iraq debt: non-Paris Club creditors
  6. ^ Steinberg, Dana, The 1980-1988 Iran–Iraq War: A Cold War International History Project Critical Oral History Conference, Cold War International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Project for Scholars, the Middle East Program, and the National Security Archive of George Washington University
  7. ^ George Crile, "Charlie Wilson's War", 2003, Grove Press, p. 275
  8. ^ Engelberg, Stephen (23 February 1987), "C.I.A. Nominee tied to '85 Memo urging Iran Arms Deals", New York Times
  9. ^ Schmidt, Rachel (1991). "Global Arms Exports to Iraq, 1960–1990" (PDF). Santa Monica, CA: RAND's National Defense Research Institute. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ "Astros II Artillery Saturation Rocket System". Army Technology. Net Resources International.
  11. ^ a b c "The Combination of Iraqi offensives and Western intervention force Iran to accept a cease-fire: September 1987 to March 1989". The Lessons of Modern War – Volume II: Iran-Iraq War (PDF). Center for Strategic and International Studies.
  12. ^ Hendelman-Baavur, Liora (20 May 2009). "Iran-Egypt Relations". Iran Almanac. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  13. ^ a b c The Research Unit for Political Economy. "The Iran-Iraq War: Serving American Interests". History of Iran. Iran Chamber Society. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  14. ^ "Italy". Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor. International Campaign to Ban Mines. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  15. ^ a b Pike, John (ed.). "Iraq debt: Non-Paris Club Creditors".
  16. ^ Anthony, John Duke; Ochsenwald, William L.; Crystal, Jill Ann. "Kuwait". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  17. ^ "Brief History of Qatar". Heritage of Qatar. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  18. ^ Vatanka, Alex (22 March 2012). "The Odd Couple". The Majalla. Saudi Research and Publishing Company. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  19. ^ Bahadori, Mazi (2 May 2005). "The History and Politics of the Iran-Iraq War" (DOC): 25. University of California, Berkeley Department of History {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  20. ^ Garver, John W. (2006). China and Iran: Ancient Partners In A Post-Imperial World. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 72, 80–81. ISBN 9780295986319.
  21. ^ a b El camino de la libertad: la democracia año a año (1986) (in Spanish). El Mundo. pp. 27–32. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ "United Arab Emirates". Encyclopedia of the Nations. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  23. ^ Timmerman, Kenneth R. (1992). The Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq. London: Fourth Estate. ISBN 978-1857020311.
  24. ^ "Yugoslavia Arms Sales". Environmental News and Information. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  25. ^ Rajaee, Farhang (1997). Iranian perspectives on the Iran-Iraq war. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 9780813014760.
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