مصادر التسلح خلال الحرب العراقية-الإيرانية

Sources of Weaponry During the Iraq-Iran War

 

English Follows Arabic

 

 

لقد أصابني القرف في الواقع من كثرة ما كرر البعض جهالة المزاعم القائلة أن العراق حصل على أسلحته في الحرب العراقية-الإيرانية من الولايات المتحدة، وتجدون أدناه إحصائيات دقيقة لمصادر الأسلحة العراقية والإيرانية خلال الحرب في الثمانينات، ولمصادر الأسلحة العراقية بين عامي 1973 و2002 اعتماداً على أرقام موثقة غربية نشرها معهد ستوكهولم لدراسات السلام، ومصادر أخرى، وهذه الأرقام تظهر بشكل جلي أن إيران استوردت عدة مليارات الدولارات من الأسلحة من الكيان الصهيوني خلال الحرب العراقية-الإيرانية، وأن العراق حصل على الأسلحة أساساً من الاتحاد السوفياتي السابق وفرنسا والصين، والرجاء ممن يرغب بتكرار الاتهامات الجوفاء السائدة حول مصادر الأسلحة العراقية أن يقرأ بدقة الجداول أدناه.

 

مع التحية

أخوكم إبراهيم علوش

 

مصادر الأسلحة العراقية في فترة 1973-2002

 

 

Suppliers	in Billions (1985 $US)	% of total
Soviet Union	19.2	61
France	5.5	18
People's Republic of China	1.7	5
Brazil	1.1	4
Egypt	1.1	4
Other countries	2.9	6
Total	31.5	98.0

 

 

Sources of Iraqi Weaponry between 1973-2002

 

Dear AN Listmembers,

 

For those who kept repeating the empty claims that the US Government armed Iraq during the Iraq-Iran War in the Eighties, please check the facts and figures below showing clearly how Iran imported several billion dollars worth of weaponry from "Israel" during the war, and how Iraq got its weaponry from the former Soviet Union, China, and France.  Please, before repeating once more these hollow charges against Iraq under Saddam Hussein, do yourself a favor by examing the facts and figures below.

 

Later

Ibrahim Alloush

 

there are specific statistics about the sources of Iraqi weaponry between 1973 and 2002 available on the net, mainly from the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, but also from other sources.  For example, read through the arabic reference in Wikepedia below:

 

http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%AC%D8%A9

 

ويذكر معهد ستوكهولم لأبحاث السلام الدولي أن استيراد العراق للأسلحة ما بين عامي 1973 و2002 توزع إحصائياً كما يلي: 57% من روسيا والاتحاد السوفياتي السابق، 13% من فرنسا، 12% من الصين، 1% من أمريكا، وأقل من 1% من بريطانيا. فليس دقيقاً التعميم أن أمريكا سلحت العراق في الثمانينات، وليس في سجل العراق شيء مثل فضيحة "إيران غيت" أو صفقات أسلحة "إسرائيلية" من السوق السوداء أو غيرها، مع العلم أن مسؤولين أمريكيين شهدوا أمام الكونغرس عام 1982 أن "إسرائيل" نقلت أسلحة أمريكية لإيران وجيش لبنان الجنوبي دون أن يتبع ذلك تحقيق بالرغم من مخالفته لنص القانون الأمريكي.

 

And you can check the following links in English if you like:

 

To see how Iran got several billion dollars worth of weapons during the Iran-Iraq War from "israel" and the US, and where Iraq got its weapons from, please check the following link:

Armament and support

[edit] Iran

[edit] Military armaments/technology

During the early years of the war, Iran's arsenal was almost entirely American-made, left over from the Imperial Armed Forces of the dethroned Shah. Iran's foreign supporters gradually came to include Syria, Libya & Soviet Union (Only during Brezhnev era). It purchased weaponry from North Korea and the People's Republic of China, notably the Silkworm anti-ship missile. Iran acquired weapons and parts for its Shah-era U.S. systems through covert arms transactions from officials in the Reagan Administration, first indirectly through Israel and then directly. It was hoped Iran would, in exchange, persuade several radical groups to release Western hostages, though this did not result; proceeds from the sales were diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras in what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

According to the report of the U.S. Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair issued in November 1987, "the sale of U.S. arms to Iran through Israel began in the summer of 1985, after receiving the approval of President Reagan."^[23] These sales included "2,008 BGM-71 TOW anti-Tank missiles, and 235 parts kits for MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missiles had been sent to Iran via Israel." Further shipments of up to US$2 billion of American weapons from Israel to Iran, consisting of 18 F-4 fighter-bombers, 46 A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bombers, and nearly 4,000 missiles were foiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, and "unverified reports alleged that Israel agreed to sell Iran AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, radar equipment, mortar and machinegun ammunition, field telephones, M-60 tank engines and artillery shells, and spare parts for C-130 transport planes."^[24] The London Observer also estimated that Israel's arms sales to Iran during the war totalled US$ 500 million annually,^[25] and Time Magazine reported that throughout 1981 and 1982, "the Israelis reportedly set up Swiss bank accounts to handle the financial end of the deals."^[26] For more on Israeli Hawk missile sales to Iran see.^[27]

[edit] Aircraft

During war, Iran operated U.S.-manufactured F-4 Phantom and F-5 fighters, as well as AH-1 Cobra light attack helicopters. It also operated a number of F-14 Tomcat fighters, which, according to a few sources, proved devastating to the Iraqis in the early phases of the war. However, due to the Iranian government's estrangement, spare parts were difficult to obtain. Despite this the Iranians managed to maintain a constant presence with their Tomcats during the entire conflict, mostly due to a combination of spare parts acquired on the black market and parts made in Iran. These were supported by KC-135s, a refueling tanker based on the Boeing 367-80.^[28]

[edit] Iraq

See also: Arms sales to Iraq 1973-1990

[edit] Military armaments/technology

Iraq's army was primarily armed with weaponry it had purchased from the Soviet Union and its satellites in the preceding decade. During the war, it purchased billions of dollars worth of advanced equipment from the Soviet Union, France,^[29] as well as from the People's Republic of China, Egypt, Germany, and other sources (including Europe and facilities for making and/or enhancing chemical weapons). Germany^[30] along with other Western countries (among them United Kingdom, France, Spain (Explosivos Alaveses), Canada, Italy and the United States) provided Iraq with biological and chemical weapons technology and the precursors to nuclear capabilities (see below).

The sources of Iraqi arms purchases between 1970 and 1990 (10% of the world market during this period) are estimated to be:

Suppliers	in Billions (1985 $US)	% of total
Soviet Union	19.2	61
France	5.5	18
People's Republic of China	1.7	5
Brazil	1.1	4
Egypt	1.1	4
Other countries	2.9	6
Total	31.5	98.0

Power of Iranian and Iraqi armies were unbalanced. The strength of Iraq and Iran is seen on the table by The Economist estimates:^[31]

Imbalance of Power (1980-1987)	Iraq	Iran
Tanks in 1980	2700	1740
Tanks in 1987	4500	1000
Fighter Aircraft in 1980	332	445
Fighter Aircraft in 1987	500+	65*
Helicopters in 1980	40	500
Helicopters in 1987	150	60
Artillery in 1980	1000	1000+
Artillery in 1987	4000+	1000+

The U.S. sold Iraq $200 million in helicopters, which were used by the Iraqi military in the war. These were the only direct U.S.-Iraqi military sales and were valued to be about 0.6% of Iraq's conventional weapons imports during the war.^[32]

Ted Koppel of ABC Nightline reported the following, however, on June 9, 1992: "It is becoming increasingly clear that George Bush Sr., operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980s, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into [an aggressive power]" and “Reagan/Bush administrations permitted — and frequently encouraged — the flow of money, agricultural credits, dual-use technology, chemicals, and weapons to Iraq.”

According to New Yorker, the Reagan Administration began to allow Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt to transfer to Iraq American howitzers, helicopters, bombs and other weapons. ^[33] Reagan personally asked Italy’s Prime Minister Guilio Andreotti to channel arms to Iraq.^[34]

The United States, United Kingdom, and Germany also provided "dual use" technology (computers, engines, etc.) that allowed Iraq to expand its missile program and radar defenses. The U.S. Commerce Department, in violation of procedure, gave out licenses to companies for $1.5 billion in dual-use items to be sent to Iraq. The State Department was not informed of this. Over 1 billion of these authorized items were trucks that were never delivered. The rest consisted of advanced technology. Iraq's Soviet-made Scuds had their ranges expanded as a result.^[35]

Yugoslavia sold weapons to both countries for the entire duration of the conflict. Portugal helped both countries: it was not unusual seeing Iranian- and Iraqi-flagged ships side-by-side in Sines (a town with a deep-sea port).^{[citation needed]}

http://www.parapundit.com/archives/001853.html

The purpose of this post is to address one of the many mythical claims about the United States popularized by some Leftists who would have us believe that the United States is the cause of most of what is wrong with the world. The myth under examination here is the claim that the United States played an important role in arming Saddam Hussein. The data comes from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in the form of a table of the value of arms imported by Iraq from 1973 through 2002. (PDF format)

Figures are trend-indicator values expressed in US $m. at constant (1990) prices.

Note: The SIPRI data on arms transfers refer to actual deliveries of major conventional weapons. To permit comparison between the data on such deliveries of different weapons and identification of general trends, SIPRI uses a trend-indicator value. The SIPRI values are therefore only an indicator of the volume of international arms transfers and not of the actual financial values of such transfers. Thus they are not comparable to economic statistics such as gross domestic product or export/import figures.

...

Imported weapons to Iraq (IRQ) in 1973-2002

Country	$MM USD 1990	% Total
USSR	25145	57.26
France	5595	12.74
China	5192	11.82
Czechoslovakia	2880	6.56
Poland	1681	3.83
Brazil	724	1.65
Egypt	568	1.29
Romania	524	1.19
Denmark	226	0.51
Libya	200	0.46
USA	200	0.46
South Africa	192	0.44
Austria	190	0.43
Switzerland	151	0.34
Yugoslavia	107	0.24
Germany (FRG)	84	0.19
Italy	84	0.19
UK	79	0.18
Hungary	30	0.07
Spain	29	0.07
East Germany (GDR)	25	0.06
Canada	7	0.02
Jordan	2	0.005
Total	43915	100.0

 

I made my own percentage calculations. Also, the original PDF document has the amounts by year but I extracted out only the final total column. Note that post-1990 sales listed under "USSR" probably refers to Russia or perhaps Russia plus former USSR states.

Given the US's position as largest arms merchant in the world the fact that it ties Libya for 9th place with only 0.46% of Iraq's total arms imports makes it obvious that the United States was not an important source of arms for Saddam's regime, that the US didn't even seriously try to be, and that US arms sales gave the US little or no leverage over Saddam.

In a report published in 1998 Anthony Cordesman places an even lower estimate on US arms exports to Iraq. See page 22 of this PDF which shows the US selling Iraq $5 million in arms in the late 1980s. Cordesman's report has many charts which also show just how far Iraq's economy fell during the war with Iran and afterward.

 

• Iraq seemed to be on the edge of sustained economic development in 1979. It was a nation of 12.8 million people with a per capita income well in excess of $10,000 in constant $US 1994. However, its economy was dependent on oil wealth and construction and infrastructure oriented with massive distortions in the state and agricultural sector.

• By 1986, the worst year of the Iran-Iraq War in economic terms, Iraq’s per capita income was down to $2,174, and its population was up to 16.2 million.

• By 1991, the last year for which we have hard data on the Iraqi economy in market terms, Iraq’s per capita income was down to $705, and its population was up to 17.9 million. Iraq’s GNP in constant $1994 had dropped from $48.3 billion in 1984 to $16.3 billion.

• Iraq’s current per capita income is probably under $1,000. The World Bank estimates that its population will climb from 21.0 million in 1995 to 24.5 million in 2000, 28.4 million in 2005, and 32.5 million in 2010.

 

US policy in the 1980s favored a stalemate in the Iran-Iraq war. But the US role in ensuring that outcome was very small as compared to the roles played by the USSR, France, China, and other countries in making sure Saddam's regime was not overrun. What intelligence and other assistance the US provided to prevent Iranian victory pales in comparison to the roles played by several other countries.

 

Sales of Weapons to Iraq between 1973 - 1990:

http://www.answers.com/topic/arms-sales-to-iraq-1973-1990

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