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happy to get rid of Khomeini. However, he could not have been
happy to see this enemy become the leader of a neighboring nation
with more than twice as many people as Iraq.
Saddam Hussein may have decided to go to war with Iran in
1980 because the new Iranian government was not yet stable, and
he hoped to weaken or destroy Khomeini’s power. The Iran-Iraq War
devastated both countries. After eight years of fighting, neither side
had made significant territorial gains, and Iraq’s economy had
nearly been ruined. Yet after the two countries agreed to peace
terms set by the United Nations, Saddam Hussein often boasted of
his “victory” over Iran. However, the only reason the war might be
considered a victory for Iraq is that Iran was weakened and its gov-
ernment lost the support of some of its people because of the
sufferings caused by the war.
I
RAQ
110
The Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini became Iran’s Supreme
Leader in 1979. Khomeini’s attempts
to export radical Islamic fundamen-
talism contributed to Saddam
Hussein’s decision to launch a war
against Iran the following year.