This is a study of the Gulf war between Iran and Iraq that lasted eight years, cost half a million lives, destroyed whole cities, devastated huge parts of both countries involved, and ultimately solved very little between them. The authors argue that although no territorial gain was achieved, for Iran the war deflected people's attention away from domestic politics and secured the position of the mullahs. In Iraq the war propped up the increasingly shaky regime of President Saddam Hussein. Moreover, the Superpowers, concerned by the spread of militant Islamic fundamentalism made no effort to stop Iraq; and the Middle East states all had reasons, however different, for promoting the continuation of the war.