Expect War With Iraq to Be Long and Bloody, Iranian Veterans Warn U.S.

Iranian veterans of the 1980-88 war with Iraq say the Americans and their allies cannot expect a short, quick war if they attack to liberate Kuwait.

“The Iraqis can take a great number of casualties and continue to fight over the corpses of their dead,” said Col. Amir, an infantryman who fought in most of the major battles of the gulf war. Amir refused to be further identified.

“If they want to fight the Iraqis, the Americans are going to have to stomach death,” he said in an interview.

“Most Iraqi soldiers have eight years of real war experience. The young Americans sent to fight have never seen a battlefront, never killed or been near death,” he said.

Some U.S. soldiers in the gulf fought in Panama and Grenada, both quick campaigns.

There were about 1 million casualties during the Iran-Iraq War.

Iran has condemned Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, but it has been equally harsh in its criticism of the U.S.-led deployment of foreign soldiers to the gulf region.