The Iran-Iraq War's Legacy
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 October 2015
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Lyse Doucet asks how far the Middle East today is defined by the legacy of the Iran-Iraq war? The conflict - the longest convention war of the 20th century- exposed deep fault lines in a region still shattered by violence. Thirty five years after it began, Iraq has imploded. Syria too. And Iran is extending its influence. Lyse retells the story of the war, then is joined by a panel of guests to ask if the events of three decades ago can help us understand what's going on in the Middle East today? Guests: Professor Mansour Farhang : Former Ambassador to UN of the Islamic Republic of Iran Sinan Antoon: Iraqi poet and novelist Dr Haider al-Safi: BBC Arabic service Professor Ali Ansari: Historian and Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies, St Andrews University
Producers: Mike Gallagher and Rozita Riazati.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading analysis. We look back to a brutal conflict which broke out 35 years ago. |
| 0:06.0 | It became the longest conventional war of the 20th century and it's a war that's helped shape our world today |
| 0:12.0 | even though its significance has been |
| 0:14.1 | overshadowed by later events. |
| 0:16.4 | The BBC's chief international correspondent, Lee's Doussaint, Lees Doussdouset, looked back to the |
| 0:20.3 | war the world forgot. |
| 0:30.0 | It was a remorseless and bloody conflict, one said to have killed a million people. |
| 0:33.0 | It was the Iran-Iraq war. |
| 0:36.0 | I asked to ask myself, |
| 0:38.0 | why the soldiers go to their death? |
| 0:40.0 | Why can't they just rebel? |
| 0:42.0 | But you can't run away. Because there are firing |
| 0:45.1 | sequods behind the units, okay? Literally, fighting sequence. |
| 0:50.3 | We love the mam homo manii and when he gave his war to defend the country we went for that. |
| 0:57.0 | We were happy to go to answer his call and we went. |
| 1:02.0 | And I think we went with joy. |
| 1:05.0 | The Iran Iraq war exposed deep fault lines in the Middle East, a region still shattered by violence. |
| 1:15.0 | 35 years after it began, Iraq has imploded, Syria too, and Iran is extending its influence. |
| 1:22.8 | Can events of three decades ago help us understand |
| 1:25.8 | what's happening in the Middle East today? |
| 1:28.0 | With a group of Iranian and Iraqi guests, |
| 1:30.4 | we'll explore the war's legacy but first a reminder of those traumatic events. |
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