Customer Reviews

Wars in Peace:Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan [VHS]

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WARS IN PEACE: IRAN-IRAQ / AGHANISTAN (1995)
written and produced by Chris Sheridan
approx. 80 minutes

This is a great video on the 1980s "conflicts" in Afghanistan and between Iraq and Iran. It is mostly done from a military strategist viewpoint and not a political science perspective. There is some amazing footage from all sides of the military actions. Each episode is about 40 minutes long.

First off is the segment on the Iran-Iraq war. We see the narrow area of the Persian Gulf that Iraq had to utilize and why they decided to attack the Iranian border. The video shows Saddam's scattered battle plan and Iran's quick response during the "War of the Cities" (Tehran and Baghadad). We see some of the effects of Saddam's use of chemical weapons, first against the Iranians and then against the Kurds. The Kurds had attempted to capitalize on the successes of the Persian attacks and were firing on Iraqi forces in the north. Saddam's troops responded by dropping poisonous chemicals on Halabja, killing thousands. We move on to the "Tanker War", taking place within the Gulf itself and involving Kuwait and US forces. This video even mentions the infamous USS Stark incident where an Iraqi plane fired on a US ship and killed 37 sailors. The Iran-Iraq war ended with no clear victor but with the populations of each country devastated. The movie touches on US involvement but does not go into a lot of detail. This episode ends with Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, which triggered the Gulf War.

The second segment is on the Afghan resistence to the Soviet invasion in 1979. The Soviets had superior weaponry but were not prepared for the moutains and caves of Afghanistan's landscape. Unconventional warfare and US-supplied weapons such as the anti-aircraft Stinger missle (part of "Operation Cyclone") helped a mostly unorganized group of fighters repel helicopters and block delivery routes. The disperate groups were somewhat more united under Ahmad Shah Massoud who became known as a hero. Ultimately the Soviets cut their losses and pulled out while the mujahideen battled the Marxist government for many years to come. When the government fell, the country deteriorated into a bloody Civil War which led to the Taliban rule.

If you want to see pictures of Osama Bin Laden shooting a bazooka or Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, then this is not for you. If you'd like to know about the situations in these countries at the end of the Cold War, this is a good video.

Watching this video you can almost get into the head of a gureilla fighter. What he thinks when he finds his enemy in the gun sights. It also shows us the determination they have when faced with odds unlikly in there favour. There upheaval of society leads them to unrest and sometimes for the good many for the bad.