(contents)
Chapter 4: War and Peace in The Middle East (24)
110 Iran-Iraq
War: Isolated Iran vs Iraq supported by Arab & US (2/3)
In November 1979 when the Iranian Revolution took
place, a young man who arrogated himself as Mahdi occupied the Kaaba Mosque of
Makkah in Saudi Arabia. The dictator of Iraq and monarchs of Gulf countries
were frightened by roaring Khomeini. Sunni rulers strengthened the control of
Shiite Muslims. The battle between the Shiite and the Sunni had begun again
since the days of the cradle of the Islam in 7th century. Although
Christianity often had conflict between sects having different doctrine and
sometime resulted in warfare, Islamic society used to be generous to the
different sects. They did not interfere each other. However, the Iranian
Revolution brought about a new confrontation between Sunni and Shiite sects.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein thought this conflict
as an opportunity to maximize his power. He declared war on Iran. It was common
that the dictator used to declare the war against neighboring country in order
to divert the people's eyes from domestic problems. President Hussein had the
same attitude. He expected another effect, too. He was sure that as soon as he
declared the war against Iran, Gulf countries might follow to Iraq. He persuaded
Gulf countries that the Iran-Iraq War was the battle between the Persians and
Arabs and the battle between Shiite and Sunni. Furthermore, he insisted to
Western countries that the Iran-Iraq War was the battle between religious
politics and secular democracy.
(To be continued ----)
(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)
No comments:
Post a Comment