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00:051982, two years into the bitter Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein had lost nearly all Iranian territory he'd occupied.
00:21135,000 of his men had been killed, wounded or captured.
00:31They were killed by the Iraqi army in a way of natural.
00:36The first time in the history of the Iraqi army happened like this, the destruction or the destruction,
00:42the same as I can, as I can.
00:49In Baghdad, Saddam may have smiled for the cameras, but he was worried for his very survival.
00:57He needed a way to sidetrack Iran.
01:02He found it 5,000 kilometers away, in London.
01:06I had two shots, a ring out, one after the other, and there was a man lying in the gutter,
01:13and he was bleeding profusely.
01:16Mr. Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to Britain, was shot outside the Dorchester Hotel late last night.
01:22Four men are helping police after the shooting.
01:26All are thought to be members of a Palestinian organization who travel to Britain.
01:33But the assassins weren't all Palestinians.
01:36They were armed and led by an Iraqi colonel from Saddam's spy service.
01:46It is believed that Saddam was provoking a war between the Israelis and the PLO in Lebanon.
01:53He hoped the ensuing conflict would unite all Muslims against Israel and help him make peace with Iran.
02:04When Israel invaded Lebanon three days later, Saddam's plan seemed to be working.
02:13He now offered to join forces with Iran against Israel.
02:24But Khomeini flatly rejected his proposal.
02:30He told his followers.
02:33However, he knew that Lebanon will be removed from its own.
02:36WeThey were pregnant in Lebanon and had them.
02:36But when the release of Lebanon, Iran was arrested by Iraq, the
02:43He said they were arrested by Iraq.
02:45We won't let the release of the release of the release and the release of the release of the release
02:50of the release of them.
02:50We will take the当 of Israel and the release of them and will destroy them.
02:52To Iraq, Iran will be my own place and the death of their land.
02:56It is our captains, the death of Israel.乙恤
02:59and the death of Israel, as the death of Israel, our lautj is
03:05Iran's focus would remain the overthrow of Saddam.
03:57Saddam Hussein knew that recent defeats had hit his army's morale.
04:02He decided to provide additional motivation.
04:09Those he deemed had failed him were executed.
04:26Such executions were not confined to the senior ranks.
04:32For the first time, the Iraqi army is now showing that.
04:38For example, one of the main reasons.
04:41One of the main reasons.
04:41One of the main reasons.
04:43One of the main reasons.
05:09But Saddam also needed to ensure the loyalty of ordinary Iraqis.
05:19that summer he toured the country
05:28many liked his strongman image
05:37his bath party organized adoring crowds to greet him wherever he went
06:04but hidden among the crowds were iraqis who opposed him
06:13shortly after leaving to jail gunman ambushed him killing two bodyguards
06:21investigations revealed that the assassins were a shia group linked to iran
06:28saddam had 148 people executed
06:35the attack reminded him that iran wouldn't rest until they'd killed
06:43him he stepped up preparations for an invasion
06:51along the border the iraqi army were building elaborate defenses
06:56concrete bunkers and miles of trenches protected by barbed wire and mines
07:11despite saddam's fears khomeini was not convinced he should invade iraq
07:17the ayatollah was happy to encourage revolution in iraq or assassinate saddam
07:23but invasion was risky and would make iran look like the aggressor
07:35mozen rezai head of the revolutionary guard was one of the leaders in a pro-war group
07:41they were determined to punish saddam and liberate the oppressed muslims of iraq
07:48they wanted to export their revolution
07:54rezai told raf sanjani khomeini's trusted right-hand man that he was confident of victory
08:16raf sanjani reported back to khomeini by prolonging the war they would unify the country and consolidate their revolution
08:28in just three days a plan to invade iraq was drawn up and orders issued
08:42the troops prepared for battle
09:11raf sanjani
09:37But the revolutionaries and radicals didn't have such reservations.
09:45The invasion of Iraq would be the first step on the path to something much greater.
10:15The invasion plan, named Operation Ramadan, was simple.
10:21150,000 young men would charge the Iraqi lines in human waves to overwhelm Saddam's defenses.
10:37The Iraqi soldiers had to be resolute as wave after wave of Iranians started their attacks.
10:54Saddam visited the front lines to rally the troops.
11:16The Iraqis couldn't believe the scale of Iranian sacrifice.
11:40But day after day, the Iranians kept attacking.
12:09The Iraqis passed the
12:24But whenever the Iranians captured an Iraqi position, they were faced with a furious Iraqi
12:30counter-attack.
12:41Without effective coordination or support, the Iranians were simply torn apart.
13:17The Iraqis had defeated Operation Ramadan.
13:44But Iran was undeterred by their setback.
13:49By the following year, they had come up with a new plan for victory.
13:55They would launch a surprise attack through the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan and take the
14:00critical oil region in the north of Iraq.
14:09They enlisted the help of 800 Kurdish fighters.
14:22The plan was for thousands of Kurds to rise up and join them against Saddam.
14:30The Kurds had fought for independence from Iraq and from Saddam's brutal repression
14:35for years.
14:48The Kurds had killed and killed them.
14:58I was a man, I was a man.
15:03In fact, Saddam killed three of my brothers.
15:11One of them killed him by giving him a name of Athalium
15:17in one of the public security cases in Mosul.
15:21And the two of them killed him
15:24on the way of the event of Saddam.
15:32Together, the Iranians and Kurds launched their surprise attack
15:36against an important border town.
15:54And the battle ended for several days.
15:58On the night of the day, the Iranians, for the first time,
16:02were able to escape from an attack.
16:07And they were able to escape the weapons and opportunities
16:11from the Iraqi forces.
16:17The Kurds from many clans were delighted by the Iraqi setbacks.
16:23Just as Iran had anticipated,
16:26they went into open revolt against Saddam.
16:31The clan of Masoud Barzani was one of the principal groups.
16:37Saddam's response to the revolt was characteristic.
16:41But the result of this battle,
16:45Saddam was the thousands of the Kurds
16:51who lived in the army in the army,
16:56in the army, in the army, in the army,
16:57in the army, in the army, in the army,
17:01and Os準'ships is the king of the army.
17:05Saddam announced the fate of the 8,000 civilians in person.
17:19Saddam announced the fate of the 8000 civilians in person.
17:21in order to be a part of the French army and their army
17:28to attack Iraq.
17:32And some of whom they were called by the Berzaniers
17:37and they had to kill them and went to the destruction.
17:47That was a community engagement,
17:56Meanwhile, Saddam promised rights to other Kurdish groups to stay out of the war, promises
18:03he never intended to keep.
18:08His policy of divide and conquer was successful.
18:12The invasion tailed off into a long campaign of guerrilla warfare.
18:23Saddam had seen off two major Iranian offensives, but how much longer could he hold out?
18:35Three years of fighting had depleted his weaponry, and he was running out of money to pay for
18:40replacements.
18:46His oil rigs and refineries had been bombed, and the Iranians had persuaded the Syrians
18:56to shut down his crucial export pipeline through Syria.
19:01But he found help from an unexpected quarter.
19:07The Americans, who were afraid of an Iranian victory in the war.
19:14It was not because we cared about Saddam, or that we really cared about Iraq, really.
19:20But if Iraq had fallen to the Iranians, then Jordan, the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, a lot
19:29of other major interests would have been jeopardized.
19:35It was clear to the Americans that Saddam was in trouble and could no longer fund the war.
19:43The Iraqi economy was imploding as the Iranians got to the border and the war dragged on.
19:50Saddam had started the war with tremendous reserves, major output of oil, and everybody
19:57believes that their war is going to be two or three weeks.
20:01How many wars have started with we'll be home by Christmas?
20:12But President Ronald Reagan hesitated.
20:16He could give Saddam cash, weapons, and intelligence.
20:22But some advisers reminded him that it wouldn't look good to help a disreputable, traditionally
20:28pro-Soviet figure who was almost as anti-American as Khomeini.
20:34Finally, Reagan decided to give limited assistance that included trade credit and, reluctantly,
20:40some intelligence.
20:43We did share satellite photographs.
20:45They were static.
20:48It was a pretty minimal intelligence cooperation.
20:53It was just enough so they would know what were the Iranian positions on the other side.
21:02Perhaps more important was U.S. diplomatic help.
21:06U.S. Special Envoy Donald Rumsfeld was sent by Reagan to meet Saddam.
21:13Having somebody of his cabinet level come to Iraq, meet with Saddam, was a major signal
21:21to the Iraqis and the Iranians that, you know, we were going to be very clear that Iraq would
21:29not lose.
21:32The U.S. also sent envoys to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
21:39The Saudi leader, King Fahad, agreed to help.
21:46They were sent entirely all theuhs and the U.S.
21:53At the same time, the U.S. was able to sell our energy to the Arab republics
21:58The Saudi destination for France is also able to sell their own goods.
22:01They had
22:01So why is the U.S.?
22:02However, the U.S. was able to sell other U.S.?
22:04That's why the U.S. were able to sell their own goods.
22:04The U.S. have been able to sell their goods.
22:05There was no use of their goods.
22:05If it was a good deal, they had to sell their goods.
22:13But what Saddam really needed was cash
22:17He reminded the Gulf leaders that Iranian revolutionaries
22:21Were already fomenting violent uprisings in their countries
22:41I would like to defend them, because they lived
22:43And it's a challenge for them to defend them
22:47And it's a challenge for them to understand them
22:49It's not to pay, but to listen to what Iraq wants
22:55The Saudi monarch, King Fahad, gathered Gulf allies
22:59They agreed to loan Saddam the money he needed
23:04I don't remember it, but it's the money
23:07And it's not only the Arab Republic of Saudi
23:11But there was also Kuwait, Qatar, the Arab Emirates
23:19All these countries were able to support Iraq
23:24To support Iran's troops
23:30For Saddam, the fact that these debts might one day have to be repaid
23:34Was not a priority
23:37He had weapons he needed to purchase
23:45The Soviets had historically been Iraq's biggest arms supplier
23:49Gulf money flowed to the Kremlin
23:52Soviet tanks and missiles to Iraq
24:01Then his buyers visited their old friends, the French
24:09They didn't go for the flashy, whiz-bang sort of stuff which dictators like when they don't actually need to
24:17fight a war
24:19Here they were choosing something much less glamorous but rather more useful
24:27They bought France's new 155mm cannon
24:33Highly mobile and devastating
24:44The top of their shopping list was an unprecedented request to borrow France's latest jets
24:50The Super Etendard
24:53They were armed with anti-ship Exocet missiles
24:57Approval for this request had to go right to the top
25:18Approval for this request had to go right to the top
25:47On the 23rd of October, 1983
25:49A new form of warfare arrived in the Middle East
25:55suicide bombing
25:57two trucks packed with explosives
26:00were detonated at the barracks of the
26:01US peacekeeping forces in Beirut
26:07241 Americans were killed
26:12that same day
26:14another bomb killed 58 French
26:16peacekeepers
26:21a shock to President Reagan rushed
26:24back from a golfing weekend
26:25to the White House
26:34Ronald Reagan reviewed the intelligence
26:36it was worrying the CIA had found links
26:41to Iran
26:46Reagan consulted his advisors
26:49should he withdraw assistance to Saddam
26:52as Iran wanted
26:52or risk escalation by retaliating against
26:56the attack
27:00from their Langley headquarters
27:02CIA officials predicted dire consequences
27:06in the event of an Iraqi defeat
27:10a major defeat could trigger the overthrow
27:12of Saddam Hussein and his replacement by a
27:15Shia regime controlled in Tehran
27:18this would have profound implications for
27:21the political equilibrium in much of the
27:22Middle East
27:27Reagan concluded that there were ways to
27:29retaliate without getting sucked into the conflict
27:38he knew that Iran was reliant on US weaponry
27:41sold to the late Shah
27:44and was obtaining spare parts from third-party suppliers
27:50he put a new plan into effect
27:53we had to make sure that their American weapons were cut off from all spare parts
28:01from other countries who were using the same weaponry
28:07that over time had a devastating impact on Iranian combat effectiveness
28:19in addition
28:21Reagan created an economic embargo to strangle Iran
28:24by putting it on the state sponsors of terrorism list
28:29these military and economic embargoes America hoped
28:32would force Iran to negotiate with Iraq
28:40but the leadership in Tehran remained undeterred
28:44they still believed they would win the war
28:54they were drawing together plans for a major new offensive
29:02the revolutionary guards now 400,000 strong were increasingly influential
29:17the regular army was sidelined
29:43Raf Sanjani personally launched the attack
29:46this time by a quarter of a million men
29:49the
30:24Operation Khaibar targeted Iraq's vital second city and only port, Basra.
30:30Its loss would cripple Saddam.
30:47Bates and helicopters ferried troops through the wetlands to their first goal, the islands
30:53north of Basra.
30:59The battle was fierce.
31:05Casualties were high.
31:18The battle was high.
31:22The battle was high.
31:25The battle is high.
31:31That's what it is.
31:47Despite Iraq's new weaponry,
31:49the islands were taken after 19 days of heavy fighting.
31:54But the Revolutionary Guards had again relied for victory on zeal
31:58rather than planning.
32:17As the Iranian forces advanced,
32:21they now faced an armament banned by international law,
32:24chemical weapons.
32:34Saddam had secretly been developing,
32:36with help from the East German government,
32:39the capability for mustard, gas, and nerve agent.
32:44The people who were chemically trained,
32:48they had their eyes.
32:50They had their eyes.
32:54They had their eyes.
32:57They had their eyes.
33:00They had their eyes.
33:05They had their eyes.
33:08is mean assume on a global job now with a leader yes you know as that's me
33:13there
33:29Iraq also introduced another weapon into the war it released 200,000 volt
33:35discharges into the waters
34:03as their casualties mounted the iranian advance
34:07slowly ground to a halt
34:16iran now took the battle to the world stage
34:18and made repeated appeals to the un over iraq's use of chemical weapons
34:35iraq adamantly denied the accusation
34:44the u.n. sent in experts to assess the evidence
34:56the iranian ambassador to the u.n. was clear what they expected to happen
35:02we hope that the international body will take the necessary steps and will meet its responsibility
35:11and prevent the iraqis from further resort to the chemical weapons
35:18two weeks later the team published its findings
35:27chemical weapons had been used
35:30but the report failed to point the finger at iraq
35:34the fear of an iranian victory with all of its consequences
35:39silenced the members of the security council
35:43it was clear that the iraqis really were using chemical weapons
35:47one should normally have seen a serious effort in the security council
35:53to have a condemnation at least a condemnation of iraq
35:58but nobody was going to condemn iraq
36:02and this was shameful
36:08but saddam and his generals could not be complacent
36:12they knew it was a matter of time before they were attacked again
36:18they decided to find a way to break iranian morale
36:26saddam launched a series of air and missile strikes on iranian cities
36:41the iranians responded by attacking iraqi cities
36:47this was the start of a new phase in the conflict known as the war of the cities
36:53civilians on both sides became the new terrified targets
36:59we had the same place in the house
37:01I felt afraid, for example
37:05when a fire fire or an iranian fire
37:09entering the regions of Baghdad
37:10and it became the racer
37:12we often find that the wife is guarding all the children
37:16and they are under the bed
37:18and they are under them and they are under them
37:23This is the truth, and the truth is the truth of the children.
37:32The sound of the water is so strong.
37:37It means that you have to sleep.
37:38Because the water is faster than the bomb.
37:44For example, I bought a 50-metre of the water.
37:48There was a lot of hindo-foods in there.
38:08The war of the cities may have terrified the citizens of both countries, but it did not
38:13break their morale.
38:16And for Iranians in particular, it actually strengthened their will to fight.
38:51The government reminded the country of the sacrifices required by war.
39:01The government said that they would not be a victim of a victim.
39:09Even the parents would not be a victim of a victim.
39:17They would not be a victim of a victim.
39:30The rhetoric was no longer one of easy victory, sacrifice itself was noble.
39:52If you are afraid of death and that you are afraid of death, someone who can't call death after death,
39:59then he says,
40:00that you are afraid of death, they are afraid of death.
40:05This is one that brings you to a hyper-my body to have an answer.
40:21Saddam's war of the cities had backfired, but the delivery of his super Etendard jets
40:28from France made a new target possible.
40:33Iran had attacked his oil infrastructure in the past.
40:37Now Saddam would attack theirs.
40:44It was the start of what would become known as the tanker war.
40:49We are not able to do it, but they are not able to do it.
40:55We want to be able to attack them.
41:04Predictably, Iran felt it had to retaliate.
41:08But it decided to raise the stakes and attacked the shipping of Iraq's Gulf allies.
41:15Many in the international community were angry.
41:20Iraq did confine its raids, its attacks, on shipping that was vital to Iran's economy.
41:31And Iran, when it responded, however, did not respond against Iraq.
41:38It attacked ships that belonged to neutral nations that were getting oil and doing business with countries like Saudi Arabia
41:44and Kuwait and so forth.
41:46And you had to say what was on Iran's mind.
41:53With U.S. support, Arab Gulf leaders and their allies took their frustrations to the United Nations.
42:01Iran has now defied international law and order by intensifying its hostilities in the Gulf.
42:09The Security Council passed Resolution 552 condemning the attacks on shipping.
42:17However, U.N. diplomats had to do more than pass resolutions.
42:24They needed to de-escalate a conflict that was sucking in much of the region.
42:30While repeated attempts to bring peace had failed, they were now able to negotiate a ceasefire in the War of
42:36the Cities.
42:38It gave the U.N. their first small victory.
42:43Of course, it's good if you have even a partial ceasefire because it saves lives.
42:49It might be a way of creating some kind, a minimum of trust.
42:54Because if neither party breaks the ceasefire, it shows maybe they could be relied upon.
43:01It's a faint hope, but I think it could be worthwhile.
43:06It could be something to build on.
43:11Negotiators tried again to achieve a full ceasefire to end the war.
43:15Iraq agreed.
43:19But Iran was stubbornly determined to continue.
43:27Rafsanjani was already amassing troops in a new plan to capture Basra.
43:43This spring offensive was yet another attempt at one great victory to end the war.
43:56This time the Iranians were equipped with gas masks and decontamination.
44:02They had learned lessons from Operation Haiba the year before.
44:21Once more into the Huize marshes.
44:29And once more the advance was swift.
44:35The regular military and the Revolutionary Guard set aside previous rivalries and cooperated.
44:43Over 100,000 men were thrown into the attack.
45:07Over 100,000 men were thrown into the attack.
45:28One Iraqi position after another was taken.
45:34Iraq was in trouble.
45:47But again, they brought in reinforcements
45:49with their new tanks and artillery
45:51and counterattacked.
45:54And once again, the Iranians were unprepared.
46:06The Iranian army was not to leave the military leaders
46:11to leave their mission after the goal.
46:15If they were to take the goal, what would they do?
46:18The Iraqi army would strike them,
46:21and then they would come to the General Assembly to stop them.
46:32The Iraqis had survived yet another offensive.
46:41In Tehran, the repeated failure to achieve a swift victory
46:44had finally changed the mood amongst some
46:47of the political leadership.
46:52Now, five years into the conflict,
46:55there were voices questioning the war.
47:26Rezaei and the Revolutionary Guard were indignant.
47:30They complained to Khomeini.
47:32He decided the war would go on, and Khomeini's word was final.
47:42But Iran's leadership knew that they needed to overcome
47:45Iraq's technical superiority.
47:49And secretly, the country began the long process
47:53of developing its own chemical weapons program.
47:57At the same time, Rafsanjani visited China to shop for new weapons.
48:05Countries like China, North Korea, Libya, and even Israel
48:08were prepared to ignore the American embargo.
48:13Significantly on this trip, Rafsanjani was also shopping
48:16for nuclear technology.
48:21He recorded in his published diaries.
48:26We were still at war, and Iraq had come close to enrichment
48:29before Israel destroyed it all.
48:32Our basic doctrine was always a peaceful nuclear application,
48:36but it never left our mind that if one day we should be threatened
48:39and it was necessary, then we should be able to go down the other path.
48:47It was as close as Iran ever got to admitting it had a nuclear weapons program.
48:55The hugely expensive nuclear site at Boucher and the chemical weapons program
49:01would take years to come online.
49:04What Iran needed urgently was weaponry to counter the Iraqi tanks.
49:11Rafsanjani began to wonder, and it was the strangest of ideas,
49:16but could the great enemy, America, be persuaded or even threatened into helping?
49:23Hezbollah, Iran's friends in Lebanon, had been busy collecting bargaining chips.
49:30American hostages.
49:34The events that were about to unfold would become known as the Iran-Contra Affair.
49:43Our series of the Iran-Iraq war continues here on PBS America tomorrow night at 5 to 10.
49:50Next, we've part two of our look back through Britain's fortified history,
49:55telling the story of the English ruler, Edward I.
50:01By US America in the UK to participate in the UK on the UK on the UK on the UK
50:03on the UK on the UK on the UK on the UK.
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