Covert Relationship

writer: Bryan R. Gibson
American Foreign Policy, Intelligence, and the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988

2010

Praeger

Series: PSI Reports

Cover PagesVolumesSizeHardcover 29616 1/8x9 1/4 pISBNpISBN-13eISBNeISBN-130-31338-610-2978-0-31338-610-70-31338-611-0978-0-31338-611-4Print inStock
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This modern study of the Iran-Iraq War utilizes newly available primary materials to analyze American policy towards the war and question the veracity of the United States'' claims of strict neutrality.

The Iran-Iraq War was one of the deadliest and most costly conflicts in the modern era; well over a million lives were lost, and America alone spent a shocking $1.2 trillion backing both Iran and Iraq''s efforts. But evidence suggests that the United States was not as neutral a party as it claimed—despite funding and providing intelligence to both countries.

The Iran-Iraq War lasted from September 1980 to August 1988, dominating the landscape of the Middle East and polarizing many of the world''s nations for nearly a decade. This new work analyzes the United States'' policy towards this vicious and extremely costly war, and questions the veracity of America''s claims of strict neutrality.

The contents of Covert Relationship: American Foreign Policy, Intelligence, and the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988 can be broken down into five sections: the conflict''s origins, the Carter administration''s response to the war, the Reagan administration''s actions, changes to American policy during the Iran-Contra Affair, and the collapse of neutrality in the final two years of the war. The author boldly refutes the arguments of other authors about the war, and provides timely and relevant insights regarding American-Iraqi relations in light of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Features
• Incorporates use of primary documents obtained from the American National Archives, the Carter and Reagan Presidential Libraries, the National Security Archive, and Freedom of Information Act requests
• Provides an easy-to-follow, chronological presentation of all the major events in the war
• Includes maps of all major battles during the Iran-Iraq War, as well as targets attacked in the Persian Gulf
• Contains a glossary clarifying all major acronyms
• An extensive bibliography and index of important people, organizations, documents, and events provides avenues for further research

Highlights
• Contains information that will satisfy heightened American interest in Iraq—among general audiences and historians—as a result of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq
• Provides details of top-secret meetings between American and Iraqi officials during the war
• Exposes previouslyunknown information about an American covert operation to help Iraq destroy Iran''s ability to continue fighting the war
• Offers an unprecedented presentation of the Iran-Contra scandal in its proper context of the Iran-Iraq War

Bryan R. Gibson is a doctoral candidate in international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science in London, UK. The focus of Gibson''s work is American foreign policy towards Iraq during the period of 1958 to 1988. He is presently researching the American policy towards the Kurdish revolt in Iraq that spanned 1961 to 1975.