New Book: Saddam's Generals: Perspectives of the Iran-Iraq War co-translated by Laila Sabara of CRRC
Saddam's Generals: Perspectives of the Iran-Iraq War
By Kevin M. Woods, Williamson Murray, Elizabeth A. Nathan, Laila Sabara, Ana M. Venegas
"Perhaps the only thing less insightful than the history of a war written solely by its winner is
one written exclusively by nonparticipants. The complex mix of drivers, decisions, and
perspectives that animate a war’s senior leaders are often lost or obscured under the best of
circumstances. This problem is exacerbated when examining a war between closed regimes
such as occurred with Iran and Iraq in the 1980s. While the perspectives of former senior Iraqi
leaders contained in this monograph are not without biases and should be judged in light of
other sources, they offer an important glimpse into a previously closed world. The study of
the Iran-Iraq War based on the perspective of senior Iraqi participants offers valuable
historical insights and will serve as a useful resource for analysts and scholars seeking to
understand distant conflicts.
This study was inspired by post–World War II efforts of U.S. Army historians and
intelligence officers to gather and preserve insights and perspectives of the German General
Staff. This is the second volume in a series of studies, sponsored by the National Intelligence
Council, designed to cast light on issues involving Saddam’s Iraq by interviewing former
Iraqi officials. The first volume, Saddam’s War: An Iraqi Military Perspective of the Iran-
Iraq War, contained interviews with Lieutenant General Ra’ad Hamdani, a former Iraqi
Republican Guard Corps commander. This second volume includes an additional interview
with Hamdani, along with four additional senior officers who discuss issues including Iraqi
naval operations, airpower, military intelligence, and capability development."
From the Foreward by Major General John R. Landry (USA Ret.), National Intelligence Officer for Military Issues, National Intelligence Council.
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