This superb book describes the superpowers' involvement in the Iran-Iraq war. The study shows how the superpowers, particularly the United States, fuelled the fire of war and in some cases encouraged Saddam Hussein in his belligerency and aggression. It also shows how the superpowers failed to condemn Iraq for invading Iran, and how in the first two years of the war both superpowers refused to demand that Iraq withdraw its forces from the vast area of Iranian territory that Saddam Hussein had occupied. Iraq was not pressured to comply with the United Nations resolution on the terms of the cease-fire.