On Jul 2, 2009, at 11:44 AM, Michael Pollak wrote:
>
> On Thu, 2 Jul 2009, Shane Mage wrote:
>
>> The "long-running war?" At a very early stage Saddam Hussein
>> offered to end the war by restoring the pre-war boundaries--exactly
>> the terms of the ultimate settlement.
>
> Yeah, after he attacked unprovoked in order to grab land -- and soon
> found himself obviously losing and in danger for his survival. The
> only reason he didn't get entirely knocked out of power -- which the
> Iranian Islamic republic would have naturally loved, uniting the two
> large majority shiite states in the world, and freeing the Iraqi
> shiites from religious suppression -- was because the US and the
> gulf states held him up with finances, and because he resorted to
> chemical weapons. Khomeini refused to answer like with like because
> it he considered such weapons of mass destruction to be against
> Islamic principles. And that's when he agreed to a draw.
>
> At least that's the narrative given by Dilip Hiro in _The Longest
> War_.
But the Iranians also used chemical weapons.
In any case the point is incontestable. Once the peace proposal had been made, the millions of dead *thereafter* died because of Khomeini and for no purpose except to feed Khomeini's "Fountain of Blood."
Shane Mage
> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos