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Radio War Nerd EP #70—Iran-Iraq War (1980-8) (Patreon)

Published:
2017-02-06 19:35:20
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

Sarandë, Albania — With Trump and Flynn talking up a new war with Iran, the War Nerd looks back at the Iran-Iraq War from 1980-8, the longest conventional war of the 20th C that left nearly 1.5 million casualties . . . 

Total time: 2:24:17

Direct link  to this episode's mp3 here 

Music: "Notes From the Field" from Bill Gould & Jared Blum 's album "The Talking Book"  [courtesy of Koolarrow Records ]

Files

Comments

Garett Miller

Those human wave attacks are fucking unbelievable. They don't grow 'em like that in the U.S.

Joe McNiff

john is really at the top of his game during this era of RWN

Tupac Chopra

OT: Is there a single summary page/document that gives a synopsis of all the podcasts? It can be something as simple as a spreadsheet of all the episodes with the summaries for each posted podcast in the cell next to it. Also, do you intend to produce transcripts? Those could probably be produced fairly cheaply with someone proofreading a machine generated first-pass copy for names of people and places. That would be very useful to find that one fact or reference that is too annoying to re-listen to a couple complete episodes to find.

Freddy K.

I'd like to add mp3s with variable bitrate (VBR) to that wishlist. The shows have grown way past 130mb again.

alejandro sosa

On a semi-related page, James Baker III not only was seen in the stands at the Super Bowl with Mike Pence, but also gave a long interview on US foreign policy (past and present) along with his views on the chaos of the Trump administration thus far: <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/james-baker-interview-donald-trump-ronald-reagan-214742" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/james-baker-interview-donald-trump-ronald-reagan-214742</a>

alejandro sosa

I am curious about the million Iranian dead number you cited. Did you mean casualties, or dead? It seems that the censuses taken since that time have led to a conclusion that the overall dead were lower than initially reported (still well north of 100k dead on both sides).

eh

For Swedish readers I'd recommend Zahak by Sven Delblanc, which doesn't seem to be available in English translation. It's a literary travelogue written by a Farsi-speaking academic and author who went to Iran for a couple months in 1971, which actually calls most of what you talk about. As his sympathies were mostly with the radical milieu at the time he spends some time talking to both Iranian leftists and some actual poor people, and comes to the conclusion that Tudeh etc are almost entirely urban and middle class and no members have any understanding of, or even an interest in talking to, the rural population that at the time still makes up most of Iran. At the same time speeches by banned clerics can be heard on cassette in a lot of villages and there's a widespread dissatisfaction with the regime, which makes him come to the conclusion that the religious party will probably end up in power when dissatisfaction with the shah inevitably explodes, so I wouldn't say that it was impossible to say that the left was weak or that there were other parties also opposing the American client state ahead of time if you actually took an interest in Iran, even if anyone working from the general media sentiment probably was blindsided.

eh

Also re:Carter I can see how you could write off a lot of disgusting foreign policy under him as being enacted by the US deep state (not intervening when ROK started sending in the military during the Kwangju protests, Contra funding starting under his administration etc) but one of the causes he was personally involved in during his time as governor was creating a holiday honoring the army in protest when Calley was sentenced for My Lai, which puts him pretty far away from even a heavily qualified pacifist.

Joel

Show was great as always, but also wanted to say considering you were having problems with the audio, the episode was seamless and I'd have never even noticed had you not mentioned it. Well done.

Tupac Chopra

Nice. Do you have a complete list?

Kevin Hickey

What was the song at the end of the episode? Also great episode! As an American who was born in Tehran just before the shah fled I am endlessly interested in this tumultuous era and region.

Freddy K.

Let's try (hoping the spacing is carried over correctly) Name Größe Bitrate Radio War Nerd 01 Inaugural show (2015-08-19).mp3 57.8 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 02 (2015-09-02).mp3 62.6 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 03 (2015-09-17).mp3 58.8 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 04 (2015-09-30).mp3 65.4 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 05 (2015-10-15).mp3 60.1 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 06 (2015-10-28).mp3 60.1 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 07 (2015-11-14).mp3 61.7 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 08 Turkey shot down Russian Su-24 (2015-11-25).mp3 135.1 MB ‎259 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 08.m4a 34.4 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 09 Opium Wars (2015-12-03).mp3 56.4 MB ‎80 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 10 YPG (2015-12-09).mp3 51.0 MB ‎80 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 11 Houbara bustards vs Qatari royal sheiks (2015-12-16).mp3 87.1 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 12 Seymour Hersh Syria (2015-12-23).mp3 111.8 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 13 2015 wars & war-nerdery (2015-12-31).mp3 84.0 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 14 The Mormon-Nerd Episode (2016-01-06).mp3 140.3 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 15 Jason Wilson Oregon's standoff (2016-10-01).mp3 72.1 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 16 Dateline London (2016-01-14).mp3 157.6 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 17 Dateline Turino (2016-01-22).mp3 107.8 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 18 Patrick Cockburn The Rise of Islamic State (2016-01-27).mp3 157.8 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 19 Dateline Turin (2016-02-04).mp3 148.4 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 20 Tim Shorrock North Korea (2016-02-10).mp3 137.8 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 21 War songs & poems (2016-02-19).mp3 119.6 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 22 Ignacio Portes The War of the Triple Alliance (2016-02-26).mp3 167.4 MB ‎192 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 23 Jason Walsh Sinn Fein, I.R.A. and urban guerrilla warfare (2016-03-03).mp3 108.6 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 24 (2016-03-10).mp3 78.0 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 25 St Patrick's Day in the Bay Area (2016-03-17).mp3 90.0 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 26 Brussels attacked by Islamic State jihadis (2016-03-24).mp3 116.9 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 27 Palmyra + The War Nerd's history with Human Terrain System (2016-03-31).mp3 89.2 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 28 Gunnar Jonsson Getting To Know Islamic State Jihadis (2016-07-04).mp3 94.0 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 29 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenians vs Azerbaijanis (2016-04-15).mp3 119.0 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 30 The Opium Wars (2016-04-24).mp3 70.1 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 31 Soldatov FSB, the Russian Deep State, Edward Snowden (2016-04-28).mp3 136.3 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 32 Urban guerrillas in 70s America (2016-05-08).mp3 135.8 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 33 Yemen (& Pol Pot) (2016-05-13).mp3 88.0 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 34 War & Culture (2016-05-23).mp3 99.5 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 35 Sino-panic & Thailand's forgotten communist insurgency (2016-05-29).mp3 110.8 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 36 Kelley Vlahos America's Gilded Deep State & The Year 1979 (2016-06-06).mp3 129.5 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 37 Islamic State & Defeat-in-War (2016-06-12).mp3 47.9 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 38 Gunnar Jonsson Islamic State & Orlando Massacre (2016-06-17).mp3 71.7 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 39 Cold War Counterinsurgencies (2016-06-24).mp3 68.1 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 40 Eritea-Ethiopia War (2016-07-02).mp3 52.9 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 41 Alistair Davidson Scottish Nationalism (2016-07-08).mp3 50.1 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 42 South Sudan (2016-07-16).mp3 49.6 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 43 Failed Coup In Turkey (2016-07-22).mp3 49.3 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 44 Dr Sunil Sainis Nukes (2016-07-29).mp3 118.6 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 45 Libya (2016-08-07).mp3 69.5 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 46 2008 South Ossetia War (2016-08-14).mp3 94.6 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 47 David Forbes North Carolina's Civil War (2016-08-24).mp3 62.1 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 48 Italian Front in WWI (2016-08-29).mp3 62.9 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 49 Syria wars & Jarabulus (2016-09-05).mp3 57.2 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 50 FARC & Colombia (2016-09-13).mp3 58.4 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 51 Red Scare! Russian Disinformation Panic & The Spike (2016-09-20).mp3 81.0 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 52 Drugs & Wars (2016-09-27).mp3 75.4 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 53 Afghanistan (2016-10-04).mp3 57.4 MB ‎64 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 54 Max Blumenthal Syria (2016-10-11).mp3 87.3 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 55 Defeat & Dabiq (2016-10-23).mp3 84.8 MB ‎96 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 56 The Sikhs (2016-10-30).mp3 71.5 MB ‎96 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 57 Andrew Cockburn Yemen (2016-11-06).mp3 81.8 MB ‎80 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 58 Kelley Vlahos DC Reaction to Trump Election (2016-11-14).mp3 74.7 MB ‎80 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 59 War & Elections (2016-11-21).mp3 106.8 MB ‎96 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 60 Alexander Zaitchik Assassinations + Standing Rock Protest (2016-11-28).mp3 131.4 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 61 Jack Murphy Syria, Jihadis & Chickenhawks (2016-12-05).mp3 113.3 MB ‎160 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 62 Tim Shorrock COINdinistas, South Korea Crisis (2016-12-12).mp3 160.9 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 63 William Hogeland The Whiskey Rebellion (2016-12-19).mp3 168.8 MB ‎160 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 64 David Forbes Sci-Fi & Fascism (2016-12-27).mp3 179.0 MB ‎160 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 65 2016 Year of the Shia Rebound (2016-12-31).mp3 124.3 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 66 Yasha Levine Russia Hacker Panic (2017-01-09).mp3 140.5 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 67 Crimean War (2017-01-17).mp3 105.2 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 68 Gambia (2017-01-23).mp3 116.3 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 69 Rania Khalek Syria & Druze (2017-01-30).mp3 136.4 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd 70 Iran-Iraq War (1980-8) (2017-02-06).mp3 131.7 MB ‎128 kBit/s Radio War Nerd Special Paris Attacks (2015-11-16).mp3 46.7 MB ‎80 kBit/s

Freddy K.

@2pac: Presto! You can grab the data and paste it into your program of choice (e.g. Notepad++ or Excel or whatever) - the columns will be populated correctly.

Kevin Walsh

Recent subscriber here. Have you done any episodes on mediaeval Europe?

Pushkar Sharma

Great work. Only problem with this episode was its short length.

Nick

Amazing episode. Best five bucks I spend every month

Ronald Dahlgren

This is a top-notch episode. At about an hour in I snapped out of the trance and thought "wow - this is amazing". When John gets going on a good war description it really becomes magic.

Factory Troll

2:24 short? It seems like the average, and I'd say 2:24 with 1 hour margin on each side is perfect.

ConsciousAlgorithim

This is an excellent episode and a further testament to the excellent work product which is consistent. It's rare to find this kind of a podcast. You guys can't produce these fast enough.

Keith Rockhold

You guys mention that the CIA (and others) thought the Russians had to be behind the Iranian revolution. The meme, as I remember it, was that the Russian's needed a port on the Indian ocean, which was also used re: Afghanistan

radiowarnerd

These are good ideas. We are looking into them!

radiowarnerd

Not yet...I'm reading about a 15th-century siege in Albania though.

radiowarnerd

Thanks! This is a testament to Brendan's skill.

Adrian Johansson

Iraq had an expeditionary force in Syria during the 73 war and they did pretty well for an arab force. So they had real combat experience !

Kevin Walsh

Interesting. Not an area I know much about. I'm a big fan (if that's the right word) of the Hundred Years War, although that's a topic that's very much war as sociology.

Mat K

I loved this episode. Keep up the good work guys.

Mike Nolan

Tbh all I want for valentine's day is another episode of radio war nerd

Freddy K.

Since there seems to be no function to send messages Patron2Patron, I'm replying to your thread in the hope that you will be notified. Please look above, I copy-pasted my list for you here in the comment section.

Tupac Chopra

Thank you Freddy K! I gave your post a 'heart' earlier but I guess you can't see the identity of those that 'heart' your posts.

Illegal_Structures

Great episode. I read Efraim Karsh's book recently and this was a good refresher of lessons from this tragic conflict. However, I have to say that the "both sides do it" argument carries no weight at all for me. I fail to see what those who use this rhetorical gambit are trying to accomplish. If both the Russians and the US shoot down airliners and then deny it, does this make it any better? If the goal is to identify hypocracy, that is one thing, but beyond this, what is the point?

xnfec

I read in a newspaper article a while back that the Iraqis had got really good at hydrological engineering and used it effectively for defensive purposes. So much so that the Americans were worried about it when they invaded Iraq. Was it ever really a factor in this war?

Payen

im finally a patron!

realBriannaWu

Man, going back through the old episodes and I really appreciate how much work you've put into improving the audio. Not that the old ones are unlistenable, but the new ones are orgasmic in comparison.

JV

Wild listening to the discussion towards the end here now and knowing about the soleimani assassination that would come within a few years