Download PDF of this full issue: v18n1.pdf (9.5 MB)

Condemn Both Sides: Iran-Iraq War

By Hoshang Rashtee

(The following article is taken from The Guardian with the permission of the author.)

Hoshang Rashtee

The Iranian New Year arrived on the 20th of March with showers of missiles. Traditionally, this celebration of spring is a joyful time for reunions of family, friends and neighbors. But this year, like the past seven, Iranians have spent their New Year mourning at the graves of loved ones in cemeteries around the country.

In the month-long "war of the cities" during March more than 200 long-range missiles were fired on populated cities in Iran and Iraq. Thousands of lives were lost and more than 2000 people injured.

Why this endless war? Because the rulers of both countries are fighting for their survival—against their own people.

The slow erosion of democratic rights won in Iran in 1979 cause dissatisfaction a month the masses. In the months following the overthrow of the shah, the Islamic regime moved to consolidate power. It crushed a well-organized women's movement, which progressive organizations, unfortunately, did not effectively support. Immediately after this all alternative news media were banned. In February 1980. The peasant movement, especially the Turk Turkmen minority was suppressed. And in April of the same year the progressive student movement was crushed with the shutdown of all universities and the declaration of the "Islamic cultural revolution."

Most of this happened in the midst of the U.S. hostage crisis, which the Islamic regime used to consolidate its power. Although it still lacked a stable central government, Tehran sent troops to Kurdistan and bombed cities in an attempt to squash the Kurdish national autonomy movement. It attached the linkage between left organizations and the labor movement with mass arrests and executions of union leaders, replacing independent worker councils with corporatist "Islamic associations." The regime, however, couldn't totally succeed with this until war erupted.

On the Iraqi side there was growing unrest among the Shiite Muslim majority as a result of Iran's Islamic revolutionary regime and the Kurdish uprising. Tension and hostility had already long existed between the two countries over control of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway. Using this pretext—and taking advantage of Iran's internal problems—the Iraqi army attacked Iran in September 1980.

In reality, however, the war is the policy of the ruling classes of both countries to shift attention away from their internal problem, rally their citizens behind their fuel and provide a cover for crushing their internal opposition. Simultaneously while the war raged, the Islamic regime launched an all-out war against its left opposition—using mass arrest, imprisonment, torture and eventually mass execution of political dissidents.

The Islamic regime further consolidated its power by transforming the shah's discredited army into the Islamic army. They also built the 90,000-man-strong revolutionary guard as a parallel fighting force. Under the slogan of "Islam against infidels" over $300 million is spent on the war each month, while people queue up for hours everyday to buy bread, rice, milk, eggs, and other essentials.

Iranian casualties total more than 100,000 and twice that many injured. Since the "war of the cities" began February 29, more than 10,000 homeless have joined the 2 million refugees from the war-torn south.

In addition to war casualties, the Islamic regime has executed more than 10,000 political prisoners. Between 50,000 and 80,000 political prisoners and one million refugees live outside the country. And while the Islamic regime brainwashes school children to become "volunteer martyrs," assuring them a "ticket to heaven," parents of executed opponents must pay for the executioner's bullets in order to claim their children's bodies.

Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal is actively seeking an end to the "war of the cities." But any let-up in the carnage will be short lived. The only winners of this senseless war are the international arms dealers. Progressives in the U.S. and around the world therefore, must not hesitate to condemn both sides for this reactionary war, and to criticize the Islamic regime for its atrocities against the Iranian people. This is not a war, this is a crime against humanity.