Word: huwaiza
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Dates: during 1985-1985
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...first used gas against Iranian troops last year, denied the new accusations. Although U.S. intelligence sources were convinced that Baghdad was guilty, they found it difficult to pin down where the wounded Iranians being treated in Western Europe had been exposed to gas. Iranian troops driving deep into the Huwaiza marshes in western Iraq two weeks ago were equipped with gas masks; Western observers of the aftermath of the struggle reported that none of the dead were wearing the masks. Nor did they show signs of having been exposed to toxic agents. While denying that chemical weapons were brought...
Thus did a vaunted Iranian offensive come to an end last week, crushed by the weight of Iraqi firepower in the desert strip between the Tigris River and the Huwaiza marshes. Thousands of Iranian and Iraqi troops had been killed during the week-long assault; even so, there was no indication that the latest flare- up in the 4 1/2-year-old gulf war had brought the conflict any closer to a solution...
Nonetheless, Iraq began to celebrate as soon as War Communique 1774 announced that its forces "had achieved victory over the Iranian invaders in the Huwaiza marshes in a unique epic of warfare." Schools and offices closed, and city streets soon filled with dancing, chanting throngs. In smaller towns, crowds marched to government offices to hear local leaders deliver speeches. The festivities were filmed and televised late into the night, scenes of celebration alternating with views of the mangled Iranian dead...
...second battle of the Huwaiza marshes ended much as had the first one a year ago, though the two encounters were otherwise dissimilar. In the first confrontation, the Iranians had attempted to prevail by sheer weight of numbers, throwing thousands of relatively untrained Revolutionary Guards into the fray. This year, by contrast, the assault troops were disciplined and well equipped; they wore boots and carried German-made gas masks. Their aim was to break through the Iraqi defense lines and then hold out against a counterattack, and for several days they did exactly that...
Amid Iraqi broadcasts of martial music and boasts of "We will change the Huwaiza marshes into a floating graveyard," Baghdad brought up reinforcements and halted the Iranian drive. The broadcasts, in a notable departure, emphasized the roles of the Iraqi generals and other officers in the fighting. In the early days of the war, the only Iraqi singled out for praise was President Saddam Hussein, the man Ayatullah Khomeini is determined to destroy. Baghdad appeared to be trying to strengthen armed forces morale and emphasize the war's importance to the country as a whole...