Iraq Compare And Contrast Essay

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Pages: 3

Another mistake both Iran and Iraq made was making the assumption that they had allies in the enemy’s country. Iraq believed they had allies in the southern part of Iran, which were the Sunnis, a denomination of Islam that believes the Prophet Muhammed’s rightful successor was his father-in-law Abu Bakr. Opposite to the Sunnis, the Iranians believed they had allies in southern Iraq in the Shiites. The Shiites believed that Muhammed’s rightful successor was his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib. Neither nation realized that their allies would turn on them due to their strong ties of nationalism to their nation. Many analysts say that the biggest blunder by both sides were the nation’s unskilled knowledge of modern weaponry. Frequently, high end materiel was …show more content…
William O. Staudenmaeir, a seasoned military analyst, reported that "the land-computing sights on the Iraqi tanks [were] seldom used. This lowered the accuracy of the T-62 tanks to World War II standards." This was the result of poorly educated and trained commissioned officers and field commanders. In addition, both sides frequently abandoned heavy equipment in the battle zone because they lacked the skilled technical personnel needed to carry out the minor repairs that were necessary to restore them to working order.
A big help to the Iraqis forces was the troubles that was arising inside the Iranian armed forces. The Iranians were dealing with a new militia that was called the Pasdaran. This militia challenged the performance of the Iranian armed forces and created tensions within the military. The Pasdaran started even causing problems for the Iranians before the war even started. The Pasdaran was created during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The mullahs were responsible for the creation of this militia. This militia was a response to the Shah’s use of the armed forces. The mullahs saw the Shah as using the armed forces as a tool of oppression and they needed to find a way to end the oppression.