“Under the impression that Iran was preoccupied with the American hostage crisis, Saddam Hussein escalated the ongoing border dispute by attacking several Iranian air bases in September [22] 1980. But Iran immediately responded by bombing a number of military and economic targets inside Iraq. The two countries then engaged in a full-scale war that would last eight years and kill an estimated one million people. In the end, neither side would be able to claim victory.”
– Ricardo S. Sanchez with Donald T. Phillips, Wiser in Battle, Page 38