ELEMENTS OF A CASE STUDY: IRAQ, THE SOVIET UNION, AND THE UNITED STATES, 1945-90 2

·         While the Shah was alive, it was thought he could contain the Iraqi regime and act as US policeman in the Gulf

·         Until the 70s Iraq was thought of as socialists. After the oil price rise that followed the arab Israeli war of 1973iraqs income from oil tripled within two years and went up almost ten fold between 1973-1982.

·         After Iran disappears from the scene in 79-80 Iraq become the second largest market in the middle east after Saudi Arabia for European, American, and Japanese goods.

·         With the US looking for a policeman to replace the Shah, the US encourages for Iraq to invade Iran hoping that the new Islamic republic would fall with ease. When it became clear it was not going to fall the US supplied Iraq with the latest military technology and even gave them the capacity to create chemical weapons.

·         Soviet Iraqi relations had been under strain since 1978 Ba’th turned on the soviets and moved closer to the US. Iraqi leaders ban the tudeh(communist party) and canceled a number of agreements with the soviets. Especially after Iran begins to get foothold within Iraq in 1982-83 is when soviets begin to support Iraq again only though the duration of the war, after the war the soviet union is dismantled.

·         One of the more tragic consequewnces of the cold war: the obsession with persecuting and reducing the influence of the left had two results:the maintenance in power of a series of unattractive, unrepresentative, and generally dictorial regimes of whatever political hue and second the rise of the religious right. The religious right claim to believe only in islam and refuse to ponder on other rational political programmes claiming islam is the only solution.