Term Papers on Peace And NonViolent Conflict Resolution

Term Paper Title	Peace And NonViolent Conflict Resolution
# of Words	1831
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.32

Peace and NonViolent Conflict Resolution

The Onset of the Iran-Iraq War

The tension between Iran and Iraq had deep roots. Long-standing major problems
included rivalries between the minority Sunni Muslims who dominated Iraq and the
majority Shiites and disputes over borders that confined Iraq to its narrow access to the
Persian Gulf by way of the Shatt al Arab waterway. In 1969, when Britain announced its
intent to withdraw from the Gulf, Iran and Iraq already seemed ready for war. That year
there was a small confrontation over the boundary along the Gulf, and disputes flared in
the 1970s as well, once when Iran occupied three Gulf islands in 1971 and several times
later over the border.

Most of those differences appeared to have been put to rest by the Algiers Treaty in 1975.
This agreement settled the border dispute over the Shatt al Arab waterway in Iran's favor
At the same time, Iraq renounced a long-standing claim to the southwestern portion of
Iran, an area called Arabistan by Iraq and Khuzestan by Iran, and recognized Iranian
control of the disputed Gulf islands.

Saddam Hussein took over the presidency in 1979.  When the Iranian monarchy was
overthrown, Iraq denounced the Algiers Treaty and demanded restoration of the eastern
bank of the Shatt al Arab as the border. After a period of mutual sporadic border
violations and skirmishes, Iraq attacked its neighbor in in the summer of 1980.

Iran appeared weak and disorganized, and the Iraqi president thought he could easily win.

The Ronald W Reagan administration took office in 1981 when the war between Iran and
Iraq was only a few months old, and it built on the Carter Doctrine. Regan indicated his
readiness to keep open the Strait of Hormuz in the event that Iran tried to close the
Persian Gulf to shipping.

Reagan's military plans for Gulf security were more ambitious than those of his
predecessor. The Reagan administration regarded the lack of an actual American military
presence as a tacit invitation to Soviet intervention. The refusal of the Persian Gulf States
to accept American military forces frustrated the Reagan government, so the new
administration strengthened the rapid deployment concept with significant expenditures
for military construction in the Middle East and nearby areas.  In the first Reagan
administration, the United States spent nearly $1 billion on construction and
support facilities, in Morocco, at Lajes Field in the Azores, and on the Indian Ocean island
base of Diego Garcia. Reagan also made the first official assignment of forces to the rapid
deployment force on the 24th April 1981 and gave it a prominent place in the defense
establishment.

While the Carter administration had buried the rapid deployment force within the U.S.
Army Readiness Command, Reagan gave it visibility and prominence. In October 1981 the
connection to the Readiness Command ended, and the task force became a separate
command reporting directly to the secretary of defense through the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One month later, Exercise BRIGHT STAR 82 showed the growth of plans and forces,
testing a broad range of tactical and logistical capabilities. On January 1,1983, the force
became one of six U.S. multiservice commands.  It was renamed The United States
Central Command, its specified theater of operations included Southwest Asia and
northeast Africa. Its commander was given charge of nearly all American military activity
in that part of the world.  Its total deployment potential stood at 300,000.

Despite the increase in the size and capability of the deployable force, there were limits to
the American ability to move its forces overseas. The United States still needed bases and
facilities in the Persian Gulf, and, although it alone in the West could contribute
significantly to the defense of the Gulf, it could not transfer a large combat force on short
notice. Throughout the 1980s, Central Command planners emphasized helping friendly
nations in the Middle East defend themselves through training, arms sale...

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