Playing blame game on Iran-Iraq war

In reference to a letter from Daniel Teegan (Jul 25), firstly his “He must be aware that Iran has not gone to war against another nation” remark: It would be interesting to hear his definition of the Iran-Iraq war, with widespread use of chemical weapons and estimates of up to 1.5m dead.

It was initiated by Iraq, the same Iraq that the West eventually came to the support and invitation of its people to overthrow its dictator. If they had acted sooner, maybe those 1.5m might still be alive.

Secondly, a lot of the casualties in Iraq were caused by Iranian-backed groups and was Iraq-on-Iraq violence and not deaths caused by western troops (it might have been more if it weren’t for their presence). Today, as the Syrian people plead for support and are being slaughtered in the streets, no help is coming.