A veteran who has seen one of the most absurd conflicts in the world: I still wake up in a panic attack

The remains of a man killed during the Iran-Iraq war were recently found: a jaw, several bones and some personal items: a plastic pocket comb with broken teeth, a personal insignia worn by soldiers around their neck and a watch from metal bracelet.

The heartbreaking photos posted on Facebook along with the soldier’s name and details of where the remains were found are sadly reminiscent of the bloody 1980-1988 conflict, which continues to affect many Iraqis, reports aljazeera.com.

“The remains of Iraqi officer Elawi Youdan Abbas have been found in the southern province of Maisan, near the border with Iran,” the message read in one of many such reports that appear from time to time on social media. “Share this message with family members.”

Tuesday, September 22, marked 40 years since Iraq suddenly declared a full-scale war against Iran, led by disputes over border borders and the ambition of dictator Saddam Hussein to become the undisputed leader of the region. At the time, Iraq claimed that the conflict had started earlier, in the 1980s, on September 4, when Iran fired artillery at Iraqi border posts.

After eight years of fierce battles in which the United States (USA), other Western nations and most Arab countries backed Iraq, Iran, internationally isolated, signed a peace treaty in 1988, mediated by the United Nations. United (UN).

This conflict is considered one of the deadliest in the modern history of modern warfare. Chemical weapons were even used during it. Approximately 500,000 died on both sides. hundreds of thousands of people were injured or disappeared.

Neither Iran nor Iraq declared victory, and both armies ended the battles in the same positions in which they began. The protracted and protracted conflict has not only caused significant economic and human damage to both countries, but has also had a lasting impact on the region as a whole.

“The Iran-Iraq war has created a new culture in the Middle East, influenced by a new intellectual and military legacy,” said Hadi Jalo Marie, president of the Baghdad-based think tank Political Decision Center.

“Most of the subsequent events in the region have their origin in this war,” he added.

The Baathist party, seeking a secular Arab state and united with Saddam at the forefront, saw great danger in Tehran, where the Shiite clergy who had taken power preached Islamist revolutionary ideas. 40 percent. The Iraqi population consisted of Shiites.

Iraq 1980 In September, it struck Iran and invaded the Kuzestan region, sparking a bloody conflict that lasted almost 8 years.

Despite the humanitarian and economic catastrophe that affected the two states, the effects of the war were felt beyond their borders. The conflict divided the region into sects, as it was seen as a war between Iraq led by Sunnis and Iran ruled by Shiite revolutionaries.

The war also heralded Kuwait’s invasion of Iraq in the 1990s over disputes over billions of dollars that Hussein had to return to Kuwait and other countries because he borrowed money to finance his fight against Iran.

After the invasion of Kuwait, the United States launched its first attack against Iraq and the UN imposed tough sanctions. Finally, in 2003, during the US-led invasion, Hussein was overthrown.

One of the motives of the 1980-1988 war was to prevent the Islamic revolution in Iran from reaching neighboring Arab countries, and the Gulf states rushed to support Hussein and Iraq.

There are no exact figures, but the war is believed to have claimed up to one million lives (100,000 civilians), caused more than a trillion dollars in losses, and sparked an Iraqi Kurdish uprising that Saddam brutally suppressed by poisoning entire settlements with his poison gas.

Iraq has never been able to invade the mountainous highlands of Persia, and Iran has not been able to invade the depths of Iraq due to the mountains themselves and lengthy logistical challenges. Despite all the efforts, intense fighting and bloody battles, the war ended in 1988, without moving the map lines at all. Both countries were devastated and their economies fell into the abyss.

But four decades later, Tehran’s influence in the Middle East, especially in Baghdad, has grown significantly, and the Gulf countries “are still looking to Iraq, similar to the reign of former Hussein,” to repel Iran, HJ Marie said. .

The vivid memories of the war continue to haunt its participants. The 58-year-old poet and writer Alawi Kadhim Keshish said that despite the agony he experiences while writing about his five years at the front, he feels compelled to record some of the events of the war and tell personal stories.

“This war is dirty,” said AK Jesheera, AK Keshish, who lives in the city of Karbala, south of Baghdad. “War is a successful project to turn people into garbage.”

In The hearts of mothers are the delicious food of war, tells the story of 1987 when a woman was found in a bus station in the province of Maisano, frequented by soldiers, looking for her missing son or someone else. information about your destination.

“When I entered the station building, a woman like my mother, with dry tears on her cheeks, came up to me and asked in a tired voice: ‘Did you see my son Karim?’”, The writer recalls.

“I turned around so as not to cry.” Even after so many years, sometimes I still wake up in a panic attack, hear the hiss of projectiles and the groans of wounded soldiers, “he said.