ch2/1/part c

While this factor undoubtedly exacerbated relations once the war began in 1980, there is no indication it had anything to do with the Iraqi decision to make war.

It was then that the Shah abrogated the 1937 Treaty, demanding the application of the thalweg as the boundary between the two states
16) The causes of the war between Iraq and Iran are historic and deeply rooted in concerns over internal security and territorial boundaries.

On the national front, and in an effort to impose their hegemony on the region, there existed a conflict between proponents of Arab nationalism and Iranian nationalism.

Until European ideas of nationalism permeated the Middle East, language identified a person's cultural background, while political allegiance depended on religious, geographic, and ethnic factors.

The government of today's Iraq inherited the traditional Sunni animosity toward Shi'a rule, and that animosity remains strong today.

14) aq's suspicions of Iran's intentions were reinforced by the Shah's attempts to create a Gulf States alliance that would provide for acknowledgment of Iran's dominant role in the region by other Gulf states, but would exclude Iraq from the alliance, and by the naval agreement of 1971 between Iran and Oman over patrolling of the Strait of Hormuz.

15) The Ba'ath's return to power signified an increased desire to establish a united Arab front (after the Arabs' defeat in the war with Israel in 1967) under Iraqi tutelage.

Further, he had an ideology to offer them, a populist doctrine of Islam aimed at stirring up the oppressed and quiescent masses.

It was perhaps this single factor more than any other that prompted Iraq to follow a policy of not relenting in face of perceived Iranian pressures and eventually choosing to go to war in September 1980.

(28) The further steps taken by Iran to occupy the Gulf islands of Abu Musa and the Tunbs in 1971, which the British acknowledged and endorsed as an expression of Iranian hegemony, (29) along with attempts to annex Bahrain, (30) were further evidence to reinforce Iraq's fears.
he Shah began to apply military and political pressures on Iraq to get his point across.

Each of these three communities has an important constituency outside Iraq: the Twelver Shi'is of Iran; the Sunni Arabs in all the Arab states; and the Kurds in Iran, Syria, Turkey, and the Soviet Union
6) The Ba'th party's secular ideology
7) Shi'is had little mundane success, while the Sunnis became numerically dominant and controlled nearly every Muslim government.

(28) The further steps taken by Iran to occupy the Gulf islands of Abu Musa and the Tunbs in 1971, which the British acknowledged and endorsed as an expression of Iranian hegemony, (29) along with attempts to annex Bahrain, (30) were further evidence to reinforce Iraq's fears.
he Shah began to apply military and political pressures on Iraq to get his point across.

They live predominantly in the southern half of the country and, as a community, enjoy considerably less wealth and power than the Sunnis, who make up about 35 to 40 percent of the population.

Further, he had an ideology to offer them, a populist doctrine of Islam aimed at stirring up the oppressed and quiescent masses.

Each of these three communities has an important constituency outside Iraq: the Twelver Shi'is of Iran; the Sunni Arabs in all the Arab states; and the Kurds in Iran, Syria, Turkey, and the Soviet Union
6) The Ba'th party's secular ideology
7) Shi'is had little mundane success, while the Sunnis became numerically dominant and controlled nearly every Muslim government.

11) are much more compelling as causes of the war between the two neighbors than "bad blood" or "deep personal differences".

In contrast, the Iranian government ignored nationalism; calling its army "the soldiers of Islam," it referred to the Iraqi army as the "forces of blasphemy."

Each of these three communities has an important constituency outside Iraq: the Twelver Shi'is of Iran; the Sunni Arabs in all the Arab states; and the Kurds in Iran, Syria, Turkey, and the Soviet Union
6) The Ba'th party's secular ideology
7) Shi'is had little mundane success, while the Sunnis became numerically dominant and controlled nearly every Muslim government.

No doubt, too, the humiliating expulsion from Iraq at a critical moment in late 1978 caused Khomeini, a vindictive man, to hunger for revenge against the Ba'th regime.

Precise figures do not exist, but most observers estimate that Shi'is of the Twelver sect constitute a majority of Iraq's population, probably 55 to 60 percent.