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73-574: Iraqi invasion of Iran (1980) Stalemate (1981) Iranian offensives to free Iranian territory (1981–82) Iranian offensives in Iraq (1982–84) Iranian offensives in Iraq (1985–87) Final stages (1988) Tanker War International incidents The Dujail massacre was a mass killing of Shiite rebels by the Ba'athist Iraqi government on 8 July 1982 in Dujail , Iraq . The massacre

146-600: A crackdown to restore Saddam's control. The execution of Iraq's most senior Ayatollah, and "reports that Saddam's secret police had raped al-Sadr's sister in al-Sadr's presence, had set his beard alight, and then dispatched him with a nail gun" caused outrage throughout the Islamic world, especially among Iraqi Shias. The Shias' repeated calls for the overthrow of the Ba'ath party and the support they allegedly received from Iran's new government led Saddam to increasingly perceive Iran as

219-598: A crime against humanity for naming the suspected Dawa Party members to be arrested. Barzan Hassan was decapitated when he was hanged because of the wrong measurements of the rope. On January 25, 2010, Saddam's first cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid , was hanged. Later, Taha Yassin Ramadan , Saddam's former deputy and vice-president who, as national commander of the Popular Army, had command responsibility (originally sentenced to life in prison but later to death by hanging),

292-603: A full-scale invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980. The Iraqi Air Force launched surprise air strikes on ten Iranian airfields with the objective of destroying the Iranian Air Force , mimicking the Israeli Air Force in the Six-Day War . The attack failed to damage Iranian Air Force significantly: it damaged some of Iran's airbase infrastructure, but failed to destroy a significant number of aircraft:

365-444: A group of two or three low-flying F-4 Phantoms could hit targets almost anywhere in Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraqi air attacks on Iran were repulsed by Iran's F-14 Tomcat interceptor fighter jets, using Phoenix missiles , which downed a dozen of Iraq's Soviet-built fighters in the first two days of battle. The Iranian regular military, police forces, volunteer Basij, and Revolutionary Guards all conducted their operations separately; thus,

438-645: A large scale." Days before the Iraqi invasion and in the midst of rapidly escalating cross-border skirmishes, Iraqi military intelligence again reiterated on 14 September that "the enemy deployment organization does not indicate hostile intentions and appears to be taking on a more defensive mode." Iraq soon after expropriated the properties of 70,000 civilians believed to be of Iranian origin and expelled them from its territory. Many, if not most, of those expelled were in fact Arabic-speaking Iraqi Shias who had little to no family ties with Iran. This caused tensions between

511-690: A pretext. A successful invasion of Iran would enlarge Iraq's petroleum reserves and make Iraq the region's dominant power. With Iran engulfed in chaos, an opportunity for Iraq to annex the oil-rich Khuzestan Province materialized. In addition, Khuzestan's large ethnic Arab population would allow Saddam to pose as a liberator for Arabs from Persian rule. Fellow Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (despite being hostile to Iraq) encouraged Iraq to attack, as they feared that an Islamic revolution would take place within their own borders. Certain Iranian exiles also helped convince Saddam that if he invaded,

584-491: A prisoner-release policy to reduce numbers to fewer than 2,000. The U.S. military released nearly 1,000 detainees at the prison during the week ending August 27, 2005, at the request of the Iraqi government. In a May 24, 2004 address at the U.S. Army War College , President George W. Bush announced that the prison would be demolished. On June 14 Iraqi interim President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer said he opposed this decision ; on June 21 U.S. military judge Col. James Pohl ruled

657-535: A threat that, if ignored, might one day overthrow him; he thus used the attacks as pretext for attacking Iran that September, though skirmishes along the Iran–Iraq border had already become a daily event by May that year. Despite Iran's bellicose rhetoric, Iraqi military intelligence reported in July 1980 that "it is clear that, at present, Iran has no power to launch wide offensive operations against Iraq, or to defend on

730-531: A weakened Iran's consolidation of the Islamic Revolution , forcibly reclaimed territories in Zain al-Qaws and Saïf Saad ; these had been promised to Iraq under the terms of the 1975 Algiers Agreement , but were never actually transferred. Both Iran and Iraq later declared the treaty as null and void, doing so on 14 September and 17 September, respectively. As a result, the only outstanding dispute along

803-461: A whole. The Iraqi government sought to take control of the entire Shatt al-Arab in a rapid and decisive military campaign, believing that Iraq's victory in the broader conflict would humiliate Iran and lead to Khomeini's downfall, or, at the very least, thwart the new Iranian government's attempts to spread Khomeinism throughout the Muslim world . Saddam had also aspired to annex Khuzestan and saw

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876-596: Is divided into five security levels. This camp built in the summer of 2004 replaced the three-level setup of Camp Ganci, Camp Vigilant and Abu Ghraib's Tier 1. The remainder of the facility was occupied by the U.S. military. Abu Ghraib served as both a FOB ( Forward Operating Base ) and a detention facility. When the U.S. military was using the Abu Ghraib prison as a detention facility, it housed approximately 7,490 prisoners there in March 2004. Later population of detainees

949-416: Is larger than the total amount of farmland surrounding Dujail, and less than 2% of the city's population had land confiscated or razed. Earlier media reports ranged from "thousands" to a high of "tens of thousands" of acres, which included the land confiscated from those convicted but also the land cleared to remove places of cover along the road from Balad to Baghdad for which the owners were compensated. There

1022-778: Is no record of how many acres were actually razed. Two of the four Ba'ath Party officials who were executed for the massacre lived in Dujail, and the roadside farmland razed included land that belonged to both. Iraqi invasion of Iran lraqi short-term operational success [REDACTED] Iranian Armed Forces [REDACTED] Iraqi Armed Forces Iraqi invasion of Iran (1980) Stalemate (1981) Iranian offensives to free Iranian territory (1981–82) Iranian offensives in Iraq (1982–84) Iranian offensives in Iraq (1985–87) Final stages (1988) Tanker War International incidents The Iraqi invasion of Iran began on 22 September 1980, sparking

1095-658: The Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, reserve soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company were charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with prisoner abuse, beginning with an Army Criminal Investigation Division investigation on January 14, 2004. In April 2004, U.S. television news-magazine 60 Minutes reported on a story from the magazine The New Yorker , which recounted torture and humiliation of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers and contracted civilians. The story included photographs depicting

1168-590: The Iran–Iraq War , and lasted until 5 December 1980. Ba'athist Iraq believed that Iran would not respond effectively due to internal socio-political turmoil caused by the country's Islamic Revolution one year earlier. However, Iraqi troops faced fierce Iranian resistance, which stalled their advance into western Iran . In two months, the invasion came to a halt after Iraq occupied more than 25,900 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi) of Iranian territory. On 10 September 1980, Iraq, hoping to take advantage of

1241-709: The Iran–Iraq War . Widely viewed in the West as a terrorist organization at the time, the Dawa Party was banned by the Iraqi regime in 1980 and its members sentenced to death in absentia by the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council . On 8 July 1982, Saddam Hussein visited Dujail to make a speech praising local conscripts who had served Iraq in the ongoing war against neighbouring Iran . Hussein visited several households, and after finishing his speech, he prepared for his return to

1314-503: The Iran–Iraq border at the time of the Iraqi invasion on 22 September was the question of whether Iranian ships would fly Iraqi flags and pay navigation fees to Iraq while sailing through a stretch of the Shatt al-Arab spanning several kilometres. On 22 September, Iraqi aircraft pre-emptively bombarded ten Iranian airfields in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to gain aerial superiority on

1387-703: The Iraq War , Saddam Hussein was hanged on 30 December 2006 for crimes against humanity in connection with his involvement in the Dujail massacre. Many others, including Hussein's brother, were also sentenced and executed for crimes against humanity. The Shia -dominated town of Dujail was a stronghold of the Islamic Dawa Party , an Islamist organization involved in the Iranian -backed insurgency against Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime in Iraq during

1460-569: The Iraqi Ministry of Justice and the Iraqi Army . In February 2009, Iraq reopened Abu Ghraib under the new name of Baghdad Central Prison. It was designed to house 3,500 inmates. The government said it planned to increase the number up to 15,000 prisoners by the end of the year. A major prison break occurred on July 21, 2013 when least 500 prisoners escaped. A senior member of the security and defense committee in parliament described

1533-512: The Iraqis and Arabs everywhere, we tell those Persian cowards and dwarfs who try to avenge al-Qadisiyah that the spirit of al-Qadisiyah as well as the blood and honor of the people of al-Qadisiyah who carried the message on their spearheads are greater than their attempts. In 1979–1980, anti-Ba'ath riots arose in the Iraq's Shia areas by groups who were working toward an Islamic revolution in their country. Saddam and his deputies believed that

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1606-555: The Islamic Dawa Party a capital offense at the end of March, Shia militants assassinated 20 Ba'ath officials, and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was almost assassinated on 1 April; Aziz survived, but 11 students were killed in the attack. Three days later, the funeral procession being held to bury the students was bombed. Iraqi Information Minister Latif Nusseif al-Jasim also barely survived assassination by Shia militants. In April 1980, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Amina al-Sadr were executed as part of

1679-486: The Islamic Dawa Party who lived in Dujail , along with their families. He later ordered the razing of orchards on both sides of the road from Balad to Dujail to prevent a repeat of the ambush. On 14 October 1982, the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council ordered the retitling of the roadside farmland to the Ministry of Agriculture and the compensation of the owners for their loss. By late December 1982, 393 men over

1752-535: The Muslim conquest of Persia while promoting his country's position against Iran in the context of a looming war. On 2 April 1980, during a visit to al-Mustansiriya University in the city of Baghdad , he drew parallels to the 7th-century Battle of al-Qadisiyyah , in which the Rashidun Caliphate secured a decisive victory over the Sasanian Empire : In your name, brothers, and on behalf of

1825-490: The Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. By 1 October, Baghdad had been subjected to eight air attacks. In response, Iraq launched aerial strikes against Iranian targets. The people of Iran, rather than turning against their still-weak Islamic Republic, rallied around their country. An estimated 200,000 fresh troops had arrived at the front by November, many of them ideologically committed volunteers. Though Khorramshahr

1898-573: The Sunni -majority Saladin Governorate of Iraq. Hundreds of men, women and children were detained after the failed assassination attempt; more than 140 people were sentenced and executed for their alleged involvement in the plot, including four people who were mistakenly killed during the mass executions. Hundreds more were sent into exile and their houses, farms and properties were demolished. Following his capture and subsequent trial during

1971-464: The federal government of Iraq , and was reopened in 2009 as Baghdad Central Prison ( Arabic : سجن بغداد المركزي Sijn Baġdād al-Markizī ). However, due to security concerns during the War in Iraq , it closed in 2014. Since all of the 2,400 inmates were transferred to other high-security prisons, the prison complex is currently vacant, and Saddam-era mass graves have been uncovered at the site. The prison

2044-759: The pan-Arabism espoused by Iraq's Ba'athists. Saddam's primary interest in war may have stemmed from his desire to right the supposed "wrong" of the Algiers Agreement , in addition to finally achieving his desire of annexing Khuzestan and becoming the regional superpower. Saddam's goal was to replace Egypt as the "leader of the Arab world" and to achieve hegemony over the Persian Gulf. He saw Iran's increased weakness due to revolution, sanctions, and international isolation. Saddam had invested heavily in Iraq's military, buying large amounts of weaponry from

2117-409: The 148 who had confessed to involvement, were sent into internal exile in a remote part of southern Iraq. The remaining detainees were released and sent back to Dujail. Following the 1982 confessions of 148 of the accused, the judiciary investigated the evidence in support and in late May 1984, it accepted their pleas of guilty to treason for providing armed support for Iran during the war, allowing

2190-438: The 1975 Algiers Agreement null and void... This river [Shatt al-Arab]...must have its Iraqi-Arab identity restored as it was throughout history in name and in reality with all the disposal rights emanating from full sovereignty over the river...We in no way wish to launch war against Iran. Despite Saddam's claim that Iraq did not want war with Iran, the next day his forces proceeded to attack Iranian border posts in preparation for

2263-722: The Arab revolts, the Revolutionary Guards would be drawn out of Tehran, leading to a counter-revolution in Iran that would cause Khomeini's government to collapse and thus ensure Iraqi victory. However, rather than turning against the revolutionary government as experts had predicted, Iran's people (including Iranian Arabs) rallied in support of the country and put up a stiff resistance. By September, skirmishes between Iran and Iraq were increasing in number. Iraq began to grow bolder, both shelling and launching border incursions into disputed territories . Malovany describes

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2336-492: The Iraqi Air Force was only able to strike in depth with a few MiG-23BN , Tu-22 , and Su-20 aircraft. Three MiG-23s managed to attack Tehran, striking its airport , but destroyed only a few aircraft. The next day, Iraq launched a ground invasion along a front measuring 644 km (400 mi) in three simultaneous attacks. Of Iraq's six divisions that were invading by ground, four were sent to Khuzestan, which

2409-510: The Iraqi Army had "liberated" all disputed territories within Iran. It should be carefully noted that Malovany, an Israeli ex-intelligence analyst writing years later, said the enclaves were not completely seized until 21 September. With the conclusion of the "liberating operations", on 17 September, in a statement addressed to Iraq's parliament, Saddam stated: The frequent and blatant Iranian violations of Iraqi sovereignty...have rendered

2482-573: The Iraqi Army's seizure of the Zayn al-Qaws enclave, near Khanaqin (by 6th Armoured Division , 2nd Corps); the Saif Sa'ad enclave ( 10th Armoured Division ) and the Maysan enclave between Shib and Fakkeh ( 1st Mechanised Division , 3rd Corps). Iran responded by shelling several Iraqi border towns and posts, though this did little to alter the situation on the ground. By 10 September, Saddam declared that

2555-614: The Iraqi invading forces did not face coordinated resistance. However, on 24 September, the Iranian Navy attacked Basra, Iraq , destroying two oil terminals near the Iraqi port Faw , which reduced Iraq's ability to export oil. The Iranian ground forces (primarily consisting of the Revolutionary Guard) retreated to the cities, where they set up defences against the invaders. On 30 September, Iran's air force launched Operation Scorch Sword , striking and badly damaging

2628-952: The Iraqis were repelled. On 14 October, the Iraqis launched a second offensive. The Iranians launched a controlled withdrawal from the city, street by street. By 24 October, most of the city was captured, and the Iranians evacuated across the Karun River . Some partisans remained, and fighting continued until 10 November. Though the Iraqi air invasion surprised the Iranians, the Iranian air force retaliated with an attack against Iraqi military bases and infrastructure in Operation Kaman 99 ( Bow 99). Groups of F-4 Phantom and F-5 Tiger fighter jets attacked targets throughout Iraq, such as oil facilities, dams, petrochemical plants, and oil refineries, and included Mosul Airbase , Baghdad , and

2701-456: The Islamic Revolution as an opportunity to do so, seeking to increase his country's prestige and power in the Arab world. To this end, his administration hoped that Iraq, as an Arab-majority country, could successfully exploit Arab separatism in Khuzestan to undermine Iran from within. In practice, these objectives failed to materialize and the majority of Iranian Arabs were indifferent to

2774-524: The Kirkuk oil refinery. Iraq was taken by surprise at the strength of the retaliation, as Iran took few losses while the Iraqis took heavy defeats and economic disruption. The Iranian force of AH-1J SeaCobra helicopter gunships began attacks on the advancing Iraqi divisions, along with F-4 Phantoms armed with Maverick missiles ; they destroyed numerous armoured vehicles and impeded the Iraqi advance, though not completely halting it. Iran had discovered that

2847-503: The Revolutionary Court to review the investigation records and confessions before it sentenced the suspects. On 14 June 1984, the court handed down the mandatory death sentence. On 23 July 1984, Saddam signed the court documents authorising the executions and ordered the razing of the homes, buildings, date palms and fruit orchards of the convicted. On March 23, 1985, 96 of the 105 condemned still living were executed. Two of

2920-487: The Soviet Union and France. Between 1973 and 1980 alone, Iraq purchased an estimated 1,600 tanks and APCs and over 200 Soviet-made aircraft. By 1980, Iraq possessed 242,000 soldiers (second only to Egypt in the Arab world), 2,350 tanks and 340 combat aircraft. Watching the powerful Iranian army that frustrated him in 1974–1975 disintegrate, he saw an opportunity to attack, using the threat of Islamic Revolution as

2993-480: The abuse of prisoners. The events created a substantial political scandal within the U.S. and other coalition countries. On April 20, 2004, insurgents fired 40 mortar rounds into the prison, killing 24 detainees and injuring 92. Commentators thought the attack was either an attempt to incite a riot or retribution for detainees' cooperating with the United States. In May 2004, the U.S.-led coalition embarked on

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3066-413: The age of 19 as well as 394 women and children from Dujail and the nearby town of Balad had been arrested. Held in detention at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad , 138 male adult detainees and ten juveniles were tried before the Revolutionary Court after they confessed to having taken part in the assassination attempt. Over several months, the remaining prisoners were transferred to detention centers in

3139-447: The attack. The attackers used small arms, rockets, and RPGs as weapons, and threw grenades over the walls. A suicide VBIED detonated just outside the front wall after Marines fired on it. Officials believe that the car bomb was intended to breach the prison wall, enabling an assault and/or mass escape for detainees. Insurgents also attacked military forces nearby on highways en route to the prison for reinforcement and used ambushes along

3212-500: The battlefield. On the next day, Iraqi troops crossed the international border in strength and advanced into Iran in three simultaneous thrusts along a front of approximately 644 kilometres (400 mi). Of Iraq's six divisions that were invading by land, four were sent to Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan in order to cut off Iranian access to the Shatt al-Arab and establish a territorial security zone. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein presented

3285-514: The capital city of Bagdad . As his motorcade proceeded down the main road, up to a dozen gunmen used the cover of the date palm orchards that lined both sides of the road to open fire, killing two of his bodyguards before fleeing on foot. In the ensuing four-hour-long firefight, most of the attackers were killed and several were captured. Saddam Hussein personally interviewed two of the captured attackers before he ordered his special security and military forces to round up all suspected members of

3358-567: The central front, the Iraqis occupied Mehran , advanced towards the foothills of the Zagros Mountains , and were able to block the traditional Tehran–Baghdad invasion route by securing territory forward of Qasr-e Shirin, Iran . Two of the four Iraqi divisions which invaded Khuzestan, one mechanised and one armoured, operated near the southern end and began a siege of the strategically important port cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr . The other two divisions, both armoured, secured

3431-576: The condemned were accidentally released, and a third was mistakenly transferred to another prison and survived. The 96 executed included four members of the Abdel-Amir family who had previously been found not guilty and ordered released. They were instead mistakenly executed. An investigation recommended for a decree to be issued to declare the Abdel-Amirs "martyrs" and the return of the property confiscated from their relatives. It further recommended

3504-402: The desert to the west. One of the prisons was Nugra Salman . More than 40 of those detained died during interrogation or in detention. A resident of Dujail later testified at Saddam's 2005 trial that he had witnessed torture and murders during the reprisal, including the murders of seven of his ten brothers. After nearly two years in detention, around 400 detainees, primarily family members of

3577-424: The end of 1980, Iraq had destroyed about 500 Western -built Iranian tanks and captured 100 others. Abu Ghraib prison Abu Ghraib gained international attention in 2003 following the U.S. invasion of Iraq , when the torture and abuse of detainees committed by guards in part of the complex operated by Coalition forces was exposed. In 2006, the United States transferred complete control of Abu Ghraib to

3650-593: The fighting around Susangerd. On 22 September, a prolonged battle began in the city of Khorramshahr, eventually leaving 7,000 dead on each side. Reflecting the bloody nature of the struggle, Iranians came to call Khorramshahr "City of Blood" ( خونین شهر , Khunin shahr ). The battle began with Iraqi air raids against key points and mechanised divisions advancing on the city in a crescent-like formation. They were slowed by Iranian air attacks and Revolutionary Guard troops with recoilless rifles , rocket-propelled grenades , and Molotov cocktails . The Iranians flooded

3723-462: The fledgling Islamic republic would quickly collapse. In particular, Saddam was assured of Saudi support for an invasion of Iran during his August 1980 visit to Saudi Arabia. In 1979–1980, Iraq was the beneficiary of an oil boom that saw it take in US$ 33 ;billion, which allowed the government to invest heavily in both civilian and military projects. On several occasions, Saddam alluded to

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3796-466: The invasion as a strategically defensive measure to blunt the edge of Iranian politician Ruhollah Khomeini , who had risen to power as Iran's " Supreme Leader " and was attempting to export the Islamic Revolution to the Arab world . Saddam, as a secularist and an Arab nationalist , perceived Iran's Shia Islamism as an immediate and existential threat to his Ba'ath Party and thereby to Iraqi society as

3869-425: The marsh areas around the city, forcing the Iraqis to traverse through narrow strips of land. Iraqi tanks launched attacks with no infantry support, and many tanks were lost to Iranian anti-tank teams. However, by 30 September, the Iraqis had managed to clear the Iranians from the outskirts of the city. The next day, the Iraqis launched infantry and armoured attacks into the city. After heavy house-to-house fighting ,

3942-671: The orders of the Mukhabarat . The executions in Dujail were the primary charges for which Saddam was hanged on 30 December 2006. At 1 a.m., on 13 December 2006, Barzan Hassan , Saddam's half-brother and the former Iraqi intelligence chief, and Awad Bandar , the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, were escorted from their cells and told by their American guards that they were to be executed at dawn with Saddam. Nine hours later they were returned to their cells, as Iraqi authorities had decided to execute Saddam alone. They were both later hanged on 15 January 2007 for " aiding and abetting "

4015-426: The planned invasion. Iraq's 7th Mechanised and 4th Infantry Divisions attacked the Iranian border posts leading to the cities of Fakkeh and Bostan , opening the route for future armoured thrusts into Iran. Weakened by internal chaos, Iran was unable to repel the attacks; which in turn led to Iraq becoming more confident in its military edge over Iran and prompting them to believe in a quick victory. Iraq launched

4088-526: The prison break, which had taken months of preparation, and claimed that the attacks involved 12 car bombs, suicide bombers and a barrage of mortars and rockets. They also claimed that they killed more than 120 government troops, though the Iraqi authorities claimed that 25 members of the security forces were killed, along with 21 prisoners and at least 10 militants. On April 15, 2014, the Iraqi Justice Ministry announced that it had closed

4161-527: The prison was a crime scene and could not be demolished until investigations and trials were completed. On April 2, 2005, the prison was attacked by more than 60 insurgents in the engagement known as the Battle of Abu Ghraib . In the two hours before being forced to retreat, the attackers suffered at least 50 casualties according to the U.S. military. Thirty-six persons at or in the prison, including U.S. military personnel, civilians and detainees, were injured in

4234-543: The prisoners as mostly those who were "convicted senior members of al-Qaeda and had received death sentences." A simultaneous attack occurred at another prison, in Taji , around 12 miles north of Baghdad, where 16 members of the Iraqi security forces and six militants were killed. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) issued a statement on a jihadist forum claiming that they were responsible for organising and executing

4307-427: The prosecution of the officer responsible. Saddam gave his approval to the recommendation and issued the decree. The officer would be sentenced to three years of imprisonment. Ten children aged between 11 and 17 were originally believed to have been among the 96 executed, but they had actually been transferred to a prison outside the city of Samawah . In 1989, the ten juveniles, all now adults, were secretly executed on

4380-505: The riots had been inspired by the Iranian Revolution and instigated by Iran's government. On 10 March 1980, when Iraq declared Iran's ambassador persona non-grata , and demanded his withdrawal from Iraq by 15 March, Iran replied by downgrading its diplomatic ties to the charge d'affaires level, and demanded that Iraq withdraw their ambassador from Iran. In April 1980, in response to the Ba'ath Party declaring membership in

4453-503: The roads. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility. In March 2006, the U.S. military decided to transfer the 4,500 inmates to other prisons and transfer control of the Abu Ghraib prison to Iraqi authorities. The prison was reported emptied of prisoners in August 2006. The formal transfer was made on September 2, 2006. The formal transfer was conducted between Major General Jack Gardner , Commander of Task Force 134, and representatives of

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4526-408: The southern portion of the country. When Iraq laid siege to Abadan and dug its troops in around the city, it was unable to blockade the port, which allowed Iran to resupply Abadan by sea. Iraq's strategic reserves had been depleted, and by now it lacked the power to go on any major offensives until nearly the end of the war. On 7 December, Hussein announced that Iraq was going on the defensive. By

4599-447: The territory bounded by the cities of Khorramshahr , Ahvaz , Susangerd , and Musian . Iraqi hopes of an uprising by the ethnic Arabs of Khuzestan failed to materialise, as most of the ethnic Arabs remained loyal to Iran. The Iraqi troops advancing into Iran in 1980 were described by Patrick Brogan as "badly led and lacking in offensive spirit". The first known chemical weapons attack by Iraq on Iran probably took place during

4672-555: The two nations to increase further. Iraq also helped to instigate riots among Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan province, supporting them in their labor disputes, and turning uprisings into armed battles between Iran's Revolutionary Guards and militants, killing over 100 on both sides. At times, Iraq also supported armed rebellion by the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran in Kurdistan. The most notable of such events

4745-612: Was built by Western contractors in the 1960s. The prison held as many as 15,000 inmates in 2001. In 2002, Saddam Hussein 's government began an expansion project to add six new cellblocks to the prison. In October 2002, he gave amnesty to most prisoners in Iraq. After the prisoners were released and the prison was left empty, it was vandalized and looted. Almost all of the documents relating to prisoners were piled and burnt inside of prison offices and cells, leading to extensive structural damage. Known mass-graves related to Abu Ghraib include: From 2003 until August 2006, Abu Ghraib prison

4818-488: Was committed in retaliation to an earlier assassination attempt by the Iranian-backed Islamic Dawa Party against the then President of Iraq , Saddam Hussein . The town of Dujail had a large Shia population, with 75,000 residents at the time of the incident, and was a well-known stronghold of the Dawa Party. It is located approximately 53 km (33 mi) from the capital of Baghdad , in

4891-401: Was finally captured, the battle had delayed the Iraqis enough to allow the large-scale deployment of the Iranian military. In November, Saddam ordered his forces to advance towards Dezful and Ahvaz, and lay siege to both cities. However, the Iraqi offensive had been badly damaged by Iranian militias and air power. Iran's air force had destroyed Iraq's army supply depots and fuel supplies, and

4964-520: Was likewise charged with "aiding and abetting" for arresting Dawa members and razing the orchards. Ramadan was executed on March 20, 2007, the fourth and last man in the Dujail trial to be hanged for crimes against humanity. The charges against Saddam included razing 250,000 acres (100,000 ha) of Dujail farmland. However, the source for the figure was an unsourced claim published in a 2005 article in The New York Times . The claimed area

5037-486: Was located near the border's southern end, to cut off the Shatt al-Arab from the rest of Iran and to establish a territorial security zone. The other two divisions invaded across the northern and central part of the border to prevent an Iranian counter-attack. On the northern front, the Iraqis attempted to establish a strong defensive position opposite Sulaymaniyah to protect the Iraqi Kirkuk oil complex . On

5110-536: Was much smaller, because Camp Redemption had a much smaller capacity than Camp Ganci had, and many detainees have been sent from Abu Ghraib to Camp Bucca for this reason. The U.S. military initially held all "persons of interest" in Camp Redemption. Some were suspected rebels, and some suspected criminals. Those convicted by trial in Iraqi court are transferred to the Iraqi-run Hard Site. In

5183-408: Was strangling the country through an aerial siege. On the other hand, Iran's supplies had not been exhausted, despite sanctions, and the military often cannibalised spare parts from other equipment and began searching for parts on the black market. On 28 November, Iran launched Operation Morvarid (Pearl), a combined air and sea attack that destroyed 80% of Iraq's navy and all of its radar sites in

5256-617: Was the Iranian Embassy siege in London, in which six armed Khuzestani Arab insurgents took the Iranian Embassy's staff as hostages, resulting in an armed siege that was finally ended by Britain's Special Air Service . A 2014 academic source confirms that the embassy attackers were "recruited and trained" by the Iraqi government. According to former Iraqi general Ra'ad al-Hamdani , the Iraqis believed that in addition to

5329-454: Was used for detention purposes by both the U.S.-led coalition forces and the Iraqi government. The Iraqi government has controlled the area of the facility known as "The Hard Site". The prison was used to house only convicted criminals. Suspected criminals, insurgents or those arrested and awaiting trial were held at other facilities, commonly known as "camps" in U.S. military parlance. The U.S. housed all its detainees at "Camp Redemption", which

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