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Baghdad Khomeini the Enemy

Tension between Iraq and Iran has become a force of its own in recent weeks and is causing both governments to reassess their dispositions of power in the Persian Gulf. Hardly by coincidence, Washington has been taking soundings with a view to improving its relations with Baghdad. The Ayatollah Khomeini has waged a particularly violent campaign of propaganda against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, calling him “a Nazi, a fascist, and a Marxist all at the same time.” Khomeini has suggested that the Iraqi government, “like the regime of the Shah, be consigned to the dump of history.” There have been attacks against Iraqi government officials, and pro-Khomeini agents have been arrested. Six thousand Iranians who have been living in the Iraqi border areas have been expelled to their homeland. The Ayatollah is said to want to export his revolution to the Shi’ites of Iraq, who form the majority of the population but are controlled by a Sunni minority. There are other issues between Baghdad and Teheran, notably the ownership of two islets in the Strait of Hormuz, which dominates Gulf shipping. The Shah occupied these islets some years ago, as part of a tacit agreement with Iraq on the Kurdish question, in view of his self-appointed role as policeman of the Gulf. Iraq would like to inherit this role and has protested the Iranian occupation to the United Nations. President Hussein, at first glance, has nothing to fear from war with his neighbor. His army, 250,000 strong, is the best- equipped Arab army in the Middle East. Moreover, 60 per cent of the Iranian army has deserted in the past year and a half. But war between Iraq and Iran could have a serious backlash by rallying Iranian opinion still more closely around the Ayatollah and inducing him to make a serious appeal for help to Moscow, which would probably like nothing better than to come to his rescue in such circumstances.

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Baghdad Khomeini the Enemy

Tension between Iraq and Iran has become a force of its own in recent weeks and is causing both governments to reassess their dispositions of power in the Persian Gulf. Hardly by coincidence, Washington has been taking soundings with a view to improving its relations with Baghdad. The Ayatollah Khomeini has waged a particularly violent campaign of propaganda against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, calling him “a Nazi, a fascist, and a Marxist all at the same time.” Khomeini has suggested that the Iraqi government, “like the regime of the Shah, be consigned to the dump of history.” There have been attacks against Iraqi government officials, and pro-Khomeini agents have been arrested. Six thousand Iranians who have been living in the Iraqi border areas have been expelled to their homeland. The Ayatollah is said to want to export his revolution to the Shi’ites of Iraq, who form the majority of the population but are controlled by a Sunni minority. There are other issues between Baghdad and Teheran, notably the ownership of two islets in the Strait of Hormuz, which dominates Gulf shipping. The Shah occupied these islets some years ago, as part of a tacit agreement with Iraq on the Kurdish question, in view of his self-appointed role as policeman of the Gulf. Iraq would like to inherit this role and has protested the Iranian occupation to the United Nations. President Hussein, at first glance, has nothing to fear from war with his neighbor. His army, 250,000 strong, is the best- equipped Arab army in the Middle East. Moreover, 60 per cent of the Iranian army has deserted in the past year and a half. But war between Iraq and Iran could have a serious backlash by rallying Iranian opinion still more closely around the Ayatollah and inducing him to make a serious appeal for help to Moscow, which would probably like nothing better than to come to his rescue in such circumstances.