I had a friend at the University of Denver Graduate School of Librarianship and Information Management in 1983-1984 who was a Librarian at the University of Mosul in Iraq. I wonder what he is doing now. Here he is at Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs back in late 1983 or so.
Garden of the Gods - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 
He had told me his brother was a General or something like that in Saddam Hussein's army. And, my friend often wanted to get in the fight. Unfortunately he may get this wish if he has not already.
It is ironic that the war he spoke to me so much-- the Iran-Iraq War-- may now heat up again once the US loses its influence in the region.
The Second Iran-Iraq War and the American Switch | Blog | BillMoyers.com
This has always been a religious conflict with the control of oil fields being one of its results.