Iran-Iraq War Research Articles

Influence of adjuvant mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans – results from a randomized control study

Even 30 or more years after the end of a war, veterans can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the present study, we explored the influence on symptoms of PTSD among Iranian veterans of the Iran–Iraq war of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) as add-on to a standard treatment with citalopram. Forty-eight male veterans with PTSD (mean age: 52.97 years) took part in this eight-week intervention study. Standard treatment for all patients consisted of citalopram (30–50 mg/day at therapeutic dosages). Patients were randomly assigned either to the treatment or to the control condition. Treatment involved MBCT delivered in group sessions once a week. Patients in the control condition met at the hospital with the same frequency and duration for socio-therapeutic events. At baseline and at study completion, patients completed questionnaires covering symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and stress. At study completion after eight weeks, scores for PTSD (re-experiencing events, avoidance, negative mood and cognition, hyperarousal), depression, anxiety, and stress were lower, but more so in the intervention than the control group. Data suggest that, as adjuvant to standard SSRI medication, MBCT is an effective intervention to significantly reduce symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and stress among veterans.

The Sacred Defense: Sacrifice and Nationalism Across Minority Communities in Post-Revolutionary Iran

This article argues against a universalist theory in which Shi’ism explains all Iranian sacrifices during the Iran-Iraq War. The article asserts four methodological reasons why the current focus on Shi’ism as the explanation for “acts of martyrdom” is insufficient. The “Sacred Defense” literature of Christians, Zoroastrians, and the Fedayeen-e Khalq is examined to support the argument that nearly four decades of the Shah’s rule and the battle over the future of the country engendered Iran as the sacred. Iranian minorities also participated in this internal battle. Unsurprisingly these same communities constituted the Iranian military forces at the start of the War. Yet, the reason why these diverse individuals and communities offered of and from themselves remains couched within the hegemonically unhelpful idioms related to Shi’as and Shi’ism and their alleged culture of martyrdom. This article demonstrates how the Islamic Republic perpetuates this image of its populace, Shias and non-Shias alike, as part of a larger monotheistic culture of sacrifice. In contrast, this article re-inserts these communities back into Iranian history in their own words to demonstrate that some individuals willingly offered their lives during the early stages of the Iran-Iraq War because of nationalism, not a religious culture of sacrifice.

Mourning Halabja on Screen: Or Reading Kurdish Politics through Anfal Films

AbstractTowards the end of the decade long Iran–Iraq war, Saddam Hussein launched a deadly attack against the Kurds, known as the Anfal Campaign, killing more than a hundred thousand. One of the largest acts of genocide occurred on 18 March 1988 in the Kurdish city of Halabja. On that day, sweet-smelling poison gas was poured over the city, killing at least five thousand. Since 2001 Kurdish moviemakers have memorialized the tragedy of the Halabja massacre by producing cinematic dramas and narrative documentaries. These films are part of a discourse of authenticity and a politics of culture that permeate the Kurdish independence movement. This essay proposes that Halabja films can be divided into three stages: the era of consolidation, 2000 to 2009; the golden era, 2009 to early 2014; and the fall which followed the fall of Mosul to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Each era reveals new attitudes towards politics, society, and the massacre.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the Iran–Iraq war: an unconventional military’s survival

As Iraqi forces invaded the Iranian border shortly after the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) participated in the battle along with the debilitated Iranian Army. The IRGC was a young religious-revolutionary institution that lacked the resources that revolutionary armies and militias conventionally rely on. Nevertheless, it survived the battle pressure and even achieved relative military successes in the second year of the war. By examining personal narratives written by Iranian veterans, this article argues that in the void of conventional resources in the first year of the war, the Guards retrieved elements of their Shia background to recognize a religiously inspired charisma in every combatant who would devotedly step up for martyrdom. This shared understanding of the omnipotent charisma was then acknowledged in action—by commanders’ deployment of it to impose order and through frequently held Shia rituals on the battlefield. It thereby created an alternative source of cohesion and motivation that led to the IRGC’s survival and prepared them for further successful steps by the end of the war’s first year.

The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf: Historic Development in the Context of Modern Qatar’s Crisis

The article is an attempt to analyze foreign policy, security and economic preconditions of creation of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf and basic beginnings of its historicaldevelopment. Its appearance became the result of internal, regional and international processes during 70-80 years of the XX century which not only created necessary objective conditions ofappearance of the above-mentioned integration organization in the Arabian peninsula but also defined its main particularities, resistance ability and vulnerable points. The 1979 Iran Islamic revolution,signing of the Camp David Accords, the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war, the USSR aggression in Afghanistan played a decisive role in the appearance of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The article researched the results and particularities of four periods in the development of the above-mentioned integration organization. The article pays special role to understanding of basic objective and subjective factors of the contemporary Qatar crisis and ways of its solving. The article also found out that the main reason that lead to the Qatar crisis was sharpening of serious acute competition between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the context of the Middle East region. The conclusion is made that the last 38-th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council “freezed” for some time contemporary state of relations with Qatar, outlined principle directions of deepening of integration processes inside the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as strengthened the role of its nucleus – union of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

TURKEY'S POSİTİON ON THE BEGİNNİNG OF THE IRAQ-IRAN WAR 22 SEPTEMBER 1980

The Iraq-Iran war, which began on September 22, 1980, is considered as one of the longest wars in the Middle East in the 20th century. This war has left great and direct effects on Turkey because it has common borders with the two warring states. The significance of the study comes from the fact that it examines the Turkish position since the Iraq-Iran war started. The study becomes more important because of the geographical location of these three countries to Kurdistan region -Iraq, as the political movements in these countries reflected negatively and positively on Kurdistan region. Consequently, it is our duty to follow the history of these countries and study everything related to them. The study tries to raise a number of questions regarding the Turkish position on the beginning of the war. Such questions include how was the position of official Turkish and the media towards the war? Which country was accused by Turkey of being the aggressor and the initiator of the war? And how were the statements of Turkish officials about that war? The economic factor, which had a significant impact on Turkey's position on the war, was also discussed in this study.

Farhad Hassanzadeh, the Versatile Artisan of Life Stories

Farhad Hassanzadeh, the Versatile Artisan of Life Stories Farideh Pourgiv (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Farhad Hassanzadeh (born in Abadan, Iran, on April 9, 1962) is a distinguished and prolific Iranian writer who has been writing since he was a teenager. According to his own web page, Hassanzadeh has written more than eighty books of short stories, novels, and poetry for children and young adults. He writes film scripts and dabbles in animation as well. He is one of the founding members of the Iranian Association of Writers for Children and Youth and was an editorial board member of a children and young adult journal, Docharkhe (Bicycle) for fifteen years. Hassanzadeh has received over forty awards for his books. He was also a candidate for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2017 and 2018. Some of his books have been translated into other languages. Diversity in Hassanzadeh's works makes the job of the critic interesting as well as difficult. He has written, as Mohsen Hejri points out, realistic as well as humorous stories, fantasy, and poetry (163); he has also done some rewriting of ancient Iranian tales. Some of this diversity may be due to his life. Hassanzadeh was born before the revolution in Oil-rich Abadan, and his family had to move out due to the [End Page 16] eight year Iran-Iraq war. He writes of his experiences in his English biography: My first writing was a play in the performance of which I myself acted. Little by little I got interested in writing stories and poems. I felt I could speak out this way. But the outburst of the war between Iran and Iraq changed everything all of a sudden. I witnessed war's destroying strokes for one whole month. I lost many friends, too. My family and I had to leave our hometown. The eight-year war changed my life entirely. (Hassanzadeh, "Biography") He continues to say that he did many odds and ends jobs to help the family, and some of these experiences are shown in the various settings and characters of his stories. However, his creative mind is not limited to his own life experiences as he addresses a wide range of challenging ideas, characters, settings, and themes—such as migration, homelessness, loss of parents due to war, and social taboos that Iranian children and young adults are experiencing nowadays. Hassanzadeh has attracted a lot of attention among critics as well as academics in Iran; many theses and dissertations have been written on his works, not only in the departments of Persian language and literature but also in the social sciences and education. Faramarz Khojasteh and Atefe Nikkhoo discuss Hassanzadeh's use of postmodern narrative techniques in his stories; they praise his use of multiple narrators, meta-story, and multiple endings (79). Ali Safaee and Hossein Adhami comment upon Hassanzadeh's use of satire in his stories in two different papers. Maryam Khodabin, Zohre Mirhosseini, and Zahra Abazari also analyze satire in Hassanzadeh's fiction and state that he makes use of several techniques such as verbal satire, situational irony, language games, parody, exaggeration, pun, and jokes; they believe that the most prominent techniques in his work are verbal satire and situational irony (70). Fox and Bee Adventure (Mājerāhā-i Rubāh va Zanbur) is Hassanzadeh's first book, published in 1991. It is written in verse, and he was the illustrator of the book as well. The little bee wants to see the world, but the fox is so hungry that he intends to eat the bee and pays the price. Snake and Stairs (Mār va Peleh), published in 1994, is a collection of five short stories titled "One Night of the Thousand Nights," "Snake and Stairs," "Silent Flute," "Under the Idle Tree," and "Grey Moments." Maryam Vaezi classifies this book as a realistic portrayal of poverty (214), while Mohsen Hejri considers some of the stories as scathing political criticism (167). In 1998, Hassanzadeh published a book titled Amir Kabir Is Not Just the Name of a Street (Amir Kabir faghat Esm-i yek Khiābān Nist). Amir Kabir was the chief minister of the...

OICs Conflict Resolution Approach: The Iran and Iraq War (1980-1988) as a Case Study

A survey of Islamic history reveals that Muslims have a tradition of engaging in conflict resolution. Hence, it was no surprise that OIC actively engaged in resolving conflicts involving Muslims during its formative years in line with the mandate of its charter. This essay examines the OIC involvement in conflict resolution by using the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), which was a case of inter-state conflict involving two Muslim countries, as a case study. Its aim is to discuss OIC’s involvement by examining its methods and approaches of resolution that were applied to bring about peace between the two nations. Following the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, lack of cooperation led to growing tensions between Iran and its neighbour, Iraq, eventually leading a devastating decade of war. In examining OIC’s diplomatic method of bringing about peace, the essay employs document analysis and adopts an interpretivist approach. From this approach it will highlight the successes, challenges and lessons that were learnt. It concludes that in spite of OIC’s failure to bring about an end to the Iran and Iraq war, the organization was the “ideal mediator” in the said conflict; and therefore recommend for it to draw upon these lessons and apply these strategic conflict resolutions (for existing ones such as the intra-Gulf states conflict or potential conflicts).

Moon Brow

World Literature in Review FICTION Shahriar Mandanipour Moon Brow Trans. Sara Khalili. Brooklyn. Restless Books. 2018. 452 pages. It would be an understatement to call Moon Brow, the latest novel by Shahriar Mandanipour (translated from Persian by Sara Khalili), anything but “world literature .” Moon Brow is both an Iranian novel and an example of the present global context that enables and, in Mandanipour’s case, forces literature to cross boundaries in language, theme, form, and style and offer a message beyond a singular national context or moment. Mandanipour, living in literary exile in the United States since 2006, seems to thrive on the idea of doubleness. Perhaps it is fueled by the predicament of a writer who has lived through one set of national contexts and stories and finds his oxygen for writing about those events outside his country in the strangeness of exile. Mandanipour’s previous novel, Censoring an Iranian Love Story, which received widespread acclaim when it was published in 2009, is built on two interlinked stories. In Moon Brow, the double effect is conveyed through a literary device that echoes both an older folkloric and Quranic reference and a newer, more fractured sensibility that conveys the effects of the narrator ’s PTSD—two angels (one, the angel of virtue, and the other, the angel of sin) sit on the shoulders of the protagonist, Amir Yamini, a wounded veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, and narrate his story in the twinning of his past and present. The angels give the reader Amir’s evolving psychological development first as a reckless, philandering, violent, and confused young man who defies his privileged, religious family, and then in the aftermath of enlisting as a soldier to fight in the war as a traumatized veteran who has lost his arm on the battlefield. By the time he is found by his mother and sister in a mental hospital, Amir has lost most of his memory. But he is haunted by the memory of having fallen in love with a mysterious woman whom 66 WLT JULY–AUGUST 2018 he calls “Moon Brow” while he was away at war. All Amir can recall is that Moon Brow was his true love and that they had exchanged rings. Because he cannot remember his past, he must rely on his sister , Reyhaneh, to tell him what she remembers about his life before he ran away and joined the army. The two angels slowly reveal details about the mysterious young woman, but Amir is plagued by the need to find her since it is the most potent and immediate memory he has of his broken life. Once he has exhausted his sister’s memory, Amir pulls in every favor he can think of to find the ring that was lost with his left arm and hand on the battlefield so that he can learn the true identity of Moon Brow. Although it is easy to lack empathy for Amir when we discover what his life before the war was like, his quest to uncover the story of his love for Moon Brow imbues him with a human fallibility that evokes a need to see Amir made whole again. Like his previous novel, Mandanipour is concerned with the idea that readers glimpse both the specifics of Iran and Iranian history (his novel is replete with references to the events of Iran’s revolution and aftermath) but, more importantly, engage with the ideas of freedom and restriction and of the power of love to transport us beyond social, spiritual, and political confinement . He draws our attention to both the possibilities for freedom and redemption as well as the soul-crushing realities of war and power to imprison the human soul and psyche. Mandanipour’s ambitious and highly complex novel demands from his readers an attention to the much bigger questions of human life—both the idiosyncratic and the predictable as well as the comic and tragic. His highly inventive and playful writing as well as Moon Brow’s structure cast the reader into a psychological minefield that captivates and leaves us in awe of the writer’s ability to move from the historical and political reality of his own...

Thematic Analysis of Management Behaviors of Civilian Nurses in Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988: A Historical Research.

Background:One of the most important roles of nurses in the war was the application of management interventions, which led to provide better services for the wounded soldiers. The purpose of this study was to explore the Management behaviors of civilian nurses in the Iran-Iraq war.Materials and Methods:The historical research methodology and thematic analysis using in-depth interviews were applied to gather data. This study was conducted in 2010-2012 in five big cities of Iran, and involved 18 male nurses who were selected by purposeful sampling method.Results:The interviews of the nurses revealed a main category as the management behaviors of the nurses in the war. Six subcategories were obtained, namely call up for the war, establishing emergency teams, managing the therapeutic units, managerial innovation during war operations, teamwork and variety of roles of nurses in the war.Conclusions:This study demonstrated how the nurses adapted to the harsh a situation without any previous experience on management in crises such as wars and increased medical treatment facilities outcome using management principles.

Exploring Coping Strategies of Healthcare Providers with Tension Sources in Iran-Iraq War: A Qualitative Study

Background: Evidence shows that people, including healthcare providers, use different coping strategies to cope with life changes and the resulting stress. War causes mortality, loss of health, and long-term physical and psychological complications for military staff, civilians, and healthcare providers. Both pleasant and unpleasant changes in human life require a readjustment. Objectives: The objective of this study was to explain the coping strategies of healthcare providers with tension resources during the Iran-Iraq war. Methods: This was a qualitative content analysis conducted during years 2015 and 2016. The researcher collected, coded, and analyzed the data. In a survey conducted by the researcher, 119 written narratives of 101 healthcare providers during the Iran-Iraq war were collected. To analyze the data, the principles of conventional content analysis were used. Results: The results of the analysis of 952 pages of written narratives in the relevant literature led to the emergence 8 themes. The main themes included acceptance, emotional release, denial and avoidance, shock and disbelieve, self-control, religious strategies, engaging in fun activities, and seeking social support. Conclusions: Transforming the experiences and tacit knowledge of healthcare providers during the war to explicit knowledge could help to identify and analyze problems and provide appropriate solutions in similar scenarios. Also, it would be an effective solution for more effective coping and prevention of mental health problems. Similar studies are recommended to determine the coping strategies of healthcare providers using other methods of data collection including interviews with participants.

DNA damage and repair proteins in cellular response to sulfur mustard in Iranian veterans more than two decades after exposure

Delayed effects of sulfur mustard (SM) exposure on the levels of five important damage/repair proteins were investigated in 40 SM-exposed veterans of Iran-Iraq war and 35 unexposed controls. A major DNA damage biomarker protein – phosphorylated H2AX – along with four DNA repair proteins in cell response to the genome damage MRE11, NBS1, RAD51, and XPA were evaluated in blood lymphocytes from the veterans and controls using western blotting. Mean levels of XPA, MRE11, RAD51 and NBS1 were lower in SM-exposed patients and the decrease in NBS1 was significant. Even though the raised level of phosphor-H2AX in SM-poisoned group compared to the controls was not significant it was consistent with DNA damage findings confirming the severity of damage to the DNA after exposure to SM. There were correlations between the values of RAD51 and NBS1 proteins as well as XPA and MRE11 proteins. More than two decades after exposure to SM, there is still evidences of DNA damage as well as impaired repair mechanisms in cells of exposed individuals. Such disorders in cellular level may contribute to long term health problems of the SM veterans.

Evaluation of bronchiectasis in war chemically-injured patients via high resolution computed tomography

BackgroundSulfur mustard (SM) gas as a vesicant chemical warfare was used in the Iran-Iraq war (1981–1989) against the Iranian warriors. ObjectiveThis alkylating agent with the potential of producing chemical injury in the skin, eyes and lung, may damage both upper and lower respiratory tract, which in turn can cause different types of sequels such as asthma, bronchiectasis, chronic bronchitis and lung fibrosis. MethodsThis study was performed on 274 patients with documented history of SM gas exposure. All of the participants complained of respiratory problems. Patients with positive history of cigarette smoking, respiratory problems before the exposure to SM gas, cardiovascular problems, surgery of the lung, and exposure to occupational toxic chemicals were excluded from the study. Results of all chest HRCTs were evaluated by a radiologist. ResultsHRCT findings showed that bronchiectasis involved 53 patients (19.34%) of all cases. Varicose bronchiectasis and cystic bronchiectasis was observed in 10 (18.9%) and 6 cases (11.3%) respectively. Among patients with bronchiectasis, the involvement rate of different lobes was as follows: Right upper lobe (RUL) 7.5%, right middle lobe (RML) 11.3%, left upper lobe (LUL) 15.1%, left lower lobe (LLL) 26.4% and right lower lobe (RLL) 39.6%. Discussion and conclusionFindings of chest HRCT demonstrated tubular bronchiectasis was the most frequent type of this disease that involve the chemically injured patients and RLL had been the most frequently involved lobe of the lung with bronchiectasis.

Whole body exposure of rats to sulfur mustard vapor

Sulfur mustard (SM) is an incapacitating chemical warfare agent used in numerous conflicts around the world and it is still a major threat for both, army troops and civilians. To evaluate its multiple targets effects in experimental setup, a model of whole body exposure (WBE) to SM vapor was established in rats and its simultaneous effects on lungs and eyes as well as on general wellbeing were examined. Rats were exposed to SM vapor. Evaluation (up to 10 weeks post-exposure) included body weight, general observation, blood counts and histological analysis. Results showed that following a latency-period of several hours, rats typical symptoms developed over a period of more than one week. The initial symptoms, characterized by swollen and erythematic nose, deteriorated into extensive rhinorrhea, eye closure, excessive lacrimation as well as rhonchi, wheezing and breathing difficulties. Alopecia and behavioral abnormality were also recorded. A weight loss of up to 40% was measured within one week with spontaneous recovery to baseline level within three weeks after exposure. Blood counts revealed leukopenia during the first three days post-exposure. Histological evaluation revealed a long lasting damage to the trachea, lungs and eyes. Thus, WBE to SM, was found to closely mimic the deleterious effects of SM on the sensitive tissues previously described in human victims during WWI and the Iran–Iraq war. The use of this animal model will enable comprehensive characterization of changes in biological processes that may lead to the development of therapeutic measures to ameliorate SM induced multi-system injuries.

Causal beliefs and war termination

This article analyzes the length of interstate wars and the process of reaching a mutually acceptable bargaining solution. Rational choice scholarship has mainly sought to explain long wars in terms of commitment problems and private information. This article complements these rational choice perspectives by arguing that causal beliefs – a variable not considered by previous research – can also prolong wars by increasing expectations of battlefield performance and slowing down information updating. It illustrates the role of religiously based causal beliefs with the case of one of the longest interstate wars of modern time, the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–88. Even though commitment problems were present, they do not identify the root cause of Iran’s high expected utility of continuing the war, as religiously based causal beliefs played a more prominent role in prolonging the war. Religious causal beliefs constitute a real word mechanism that not only creates different priors about expected military capacity, but also slows down the process of updating beliefs, as battlefield events are not seen as credible information. Although the prevalence of religious conflicts has increased over time, the formation of beliefs and their effects on wars remains understudied when applying rational choice to real world conflicts.

Long-term right ventricular changes in mustard-exposed patients: A historical cohort.

Mustard gas (MG) is a chemical warfare agent widely used in the Iran-Iraq War. Its catastrophic effects on the lungs, eyes, and skin have been well studied. However, it also affects the cardiovascular system. We aimed to evaluate the long-term effect of MG on right ventricular (RV) function. All patients presenting to the university clinics between May 2014 and September 2015 were consecutively evaluated to enter the study based on the inclusion criteria (documented proof of chemical injury, no past or present cardiovascular disease, not a current smoker, and no history of sleep apnea). A comparable control group of veterans without MG exposure was randomly selected. All patients underwent echocardiographic measurement of RV size and function by a blinded cardiologist. We included 23 patients in the MG-exposed group and 19 subjects in the control group, with a mean age of 48.6 years. Mean chemical injury severity score was 29.7% and mean time from the MG exposure was 29.2 years. The main complaint of MG-exposed patients pertained to respiratory symptoms (91%). Pulmonary artery pressure was higher (32.83 vs. 28.95 mmHg) and RV strain was lower (-17.05% vs. -20.72%) in the MG-exposed than in the control group (P < .05). Our results present baseline RV values for MG-exposed patients and show mild but significant changes after 3 decades. Further cellular and molecular studies are needed to evaluate underlying mechanisms of MG cardiotoxicity.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXCHAGE RATES AND INFLATION: THE CASE OF IRAN

Iran is a country, which has experienced high, and chronic inflation period and fluctuating Exchange rates during past decades. After the revolution in Iran in 1979, followed by eight-year Iran-Iraq war and world oil crises, high inflation has been one of the Iran’s most important problems. Especially during past years boycotts against trade caused instable Exchange rates and high inflation in Iran. These issues attract economists’ interest toward this subject. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between Exchange rate and inflation based on time series data, using Hendry General to Specific Modeling method and Vector Autoregression (VAR) model. To this end, we used annual data for the period 1976-2012 for Hendry method. We also used the quarterly data between 1997: 3 - 2011: 4 to estimate VAR model. Due to economic instability in recent years and lack of valid data we estimated model up to 2012. As a result of the Hendry model, it is obtained that there is a direct relationship between Exchange rate and inflation. An increase in foreign exchange rates makes the inflation goes up. By including the money supply variable to VAR model the effects of money supply and the exchange rate on inflation has been investigated as well. According to the results, both the money supply and the exchange rate affect the inflation in the positive direction. Contribution of the money supply on inflation is greater than the exchange rate. Keywords: Exchange Rate, inflation, Hendry Method, Time Series, VAR model

The Phases of Historiography of Iran-Iraq War in the West

تاریخ‏نگاری جنگ ایران و عراق در غرب، اندکی پس از آغاز این نبرد تاکنون مورد اهتمام کارشناسان و استراتژیست‏های غربی قرار گرفته و تا امروز با دستاوردهایی قابل تأمل شامل بیش از شصت کتاب و صدها مقاله و سخنرانی، ادامه یافته است. با وجود این، شناخت آثار و نقد و تحلیل دیدگاه‏‏‏ها‏ی صاحب‏نظران غربی در این موضوع، به نحوی بایسته، مورد اهتمام پژوهشگران داخلی نبوده است. با تأمل بر نزدیک به چهار دهه تاریخ‌نگاری جنگ ایران و عراق در غرب، می‏توان آثار منتشرشده در دوره‏های تاریخی را‌ در پیوند با تحولات سیاسی و رخدادهای بیرونی، ذیل پنج مرحله طبقه‏بندی کرد. آشنایی با کلیاتی از ویژگی‏ها و سیر تحول هریک از مراحل تاریخ‌نگاری جنگ، موضوع اصلی این نوشتار است. این بررسی، کتاب‏های منتشرشده به زبان انگلیسی در اروپا و آمریکا را در نظر دارد که به روش توصیفی ـ تحلیلی و با بهره‏مندی بی‏واسطه از منابع مذکور انجام شده است.

Experiences of civilian nurses in triage during the Iran-Iraq War: An oral history

PurposeNurses played a critical role in performing triage during the Iran-Iraq War. However, their experiences in triage have not been discussed. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the triage experiences of civilian nurses during the Iran-Iraq War. MethodsOral history method and in-depth interviews were used to collect data to gain the nurses' experiences in triage. ResultsFour themes were extracted from the data, which were the development of triage, challenging environment to perform triage, development of mobile triage teams, and challenges of triage chemical victims for nurses. ConclusionTriage is an important skill for nurses to manage critical situations such as disasters and wars. Nurses have to be competent in performing triage. Involvement in critical situations helps the nurses learn and gain more experience on how to manage unexpected events.

When everywhere is Karbala: Murals, martyrdom and propaganda in Iran

In Tehran, murals depicting men who died in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the Iran–Iraq war of 1980–1988 are ubiquitous. The murals represent an exercise in state propaganda, serving to remind citizens that these men died not simply for the nation but for Islam; they are martyrs. This message resonates with deeply held religious views in Iran. There is constant reference to the Battle of Karbala and the martyrdom of Imam Hossein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. This is seen to prefigure the revolt of the people against the Shah in 1979, the defence of the Revolution against Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and, furthermore, the claim of the Iranian opposition that the ideals of the Islamic Revolution have been distorted by politicised clerics. In propagating the myth of Karbala, the murals function to control the masses, bolster elite power and marginalise opposition to that power.