The War that Reshaped the Middle East Forever

This war ruined my childhood and made me an immigrant. I remember bomb shelters, sinister air raid sirens, and anti air craft rounds lighting up the night sky. The announcers voice on the radio. The glass windows that we taped Xs accross. The food coupons. Years later, I'm in Phoenix, AZ, swimming in the pool with my older brother and his college buddies. I see a plane, get out of the pool, get my toy gun, and start shooting at the - in my mind - "Iraqi" plane. I now know why my brother's college friends, many of whom were Iranians, started crying with the sight of a six year old me doing that. It left such a bad taste in everyone's mouth that they threw me a fake birthday several days later and got me the coolest gifts I have been given to this day: He-man, Battlecat, Skeletor, Two-headed dragon, She-ra...

One important lesson from the Cold War is that the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. I feel bad for all the civilians that got caught up in this.

As a kurd myself with parents who lived in kurdistan in northern iraq during this war, thank you so much for talking about this 🤍

I have 6 veteran uncles and all of them are still suffering from iraqi chemical attacks

After high school in 2000, I joined the Marine Corps. A year later, 9/11 happened. President Bush and his administration really hammered on the WMD and chemical weapons Saddam had and my unit was sent in March 2003 looking for these weapons. We got to Baghdad and didn’t find said weapons and my unit was brought back after only 4 months. It felt very fishy that I didn’t serve the purpose I was trained for. Another commenter came down on me for joining and being part of this campaign but (1) I never killed a soul on Iraqi soil and (2) I was a dumb kid out of high school looking to serve my country. But after feeling lied to, I left the service after my four years were up and never looked back. I’ve been looking to learn more about this point in time I was a part of to understand the motives and politics involved. These videos help fill in the gaps to my knowledge of this conflict and I greatly appreciate them.

As an Iranian and long-time fan of your channel, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for this insightful video on the Iran-Iraq War. It's a conflict that has had such a profound and lasting impact on the Middle East, and I'm grateful that you've brought attention to it. I would also encourage you to consider making more videos that focus on Iran and the complex factors that have shaped the country's present situation. As someone with a deep connection to Iran, I believe there is so much more of the story that deserves to be told. Your ability to provide thoughtful, nuanced analysis on geopolitical issues is truly valuable, and I think exploring Iran in greater depth would be incredibly enlightening for your viewers. Please consider making more content about Iran and the Middle East - it's a region that has had an outsized impact on the world yet is so often misunderstood. Videos like this one are invaluable for fostering greater awareness and understanding. Thank you again for your work. I look forward to seeing what other topics you tackle in the future... keep up the great work! Looking forward to more enlightening videos from you.

Seems like the US hasnt learned from “turning a blind eye”…

From South Sudan here. Always a member of the channel

Shooting a passenger jet and receiving medal after that is atrocious!

As US politician would say : when it comes to middle east US pretends is like choosing between heart attack and stroke - you don’t want either, but it always chooses both (thanks to weapon manufacturers) I feel bad for the people.

Great content. You make very complex geopolitical issues so easy to understand. You get my Subscribe...

This next level production and coherence. Thanks for your work!

As an Iranian and long subscriber of Johnny, I appreciate this video. 🇮🇷🕊🇮🇶

Just woke up, made my cup of coffee, and saw Johnny Harris new post 3 minutes ago. My day is made!

just to correct you, saddam hussein didnt give up full control of this waterway in 1975 bcs he wasnt even in power that time, he only ruled from 1979 to 2004

I love your coverage of little unnoticed but important details 👍🏼 It really helps in judging the different players actions and intentions

Stop taking that sponsor

I am a Iraqi child of this war and is so sad for what happened to people from both sides, my cousin was killed in the infamous Al-Faw battle 1986 (not mentioned here), my brother served 3 years and survived, my father all 8 and survived (died 2004 from heart attack). Despite all that there are stories where soldiers saved the lives of soldiers from the other side, those are also true heroes imo. Coming from a Christian family Iraq ain't safe still for us, but that's on politicians not on people, I love the country and all my childhood friends.

Really well done vid. As an American who lived through this whole time, I didn't know very much of the story at all. Thank you!

Love this type of content. Very informative