>>>>I can understand the lack of will to fight fellow citizens in a civil war, but this is the military that faced down the Iranian army in an 8 year war with 1 million casualties. They know how to fight.
>>>
>>>Faced them down with possibly a greater threat behind them? Were they volunteers or conscripts? Was conscientious objection an option?
>>
>>I can't find any wide-spread evidence of what you're implying. Sure it was largely a concript army but this is common in dictatorships.
>
>I'm implying nothing. And I wasn't looking for Wikievidence - just looking for your thoughts as to why two radical regimes funded by big oil money slaughtered each other for 8 years, with nothing to show for it other than body count. You're suggesting they know how to fight. I'm suggesting that maybe the will or cause just wasn't there.

A few things stoked the flames:
- Sunni vs Shia
- Arab vs Persian
- secular vs Islamic
- who was going to be the military power in the region

Given the times it surprisingly wasn't a proxy of the cold war. Both the Soviets and the US were fearful of the Islamic Iranian regime and gave support to Iraq.