Class Notes 3/24

Causes

• Personal ambition of Saddam Hussein
• Saddam's desire to be the most powerful leader in the Arab world
  

Practices

• Blitzkrieg- Iraq attacks across a 500 mile front. Tanks (Soviet-made) support infantry, MIG fighters (Soviet-made) hit military targets and oil facilities
  
• Iraq seizes the Al-Faw Peninsula and parts of Khuzestan
• The war turns into a stalemate + war of attrition
• Iraq uses poison gas
• Bombing cities
• Both sides make the conflict a jihad (a holy war)
• All soldiers (both sides) who die in war are promised a spot in paradise