Original subtitles

>> NARRATOR: Tonight,

an epic journey

through the most war torn region

in the world.

>> The chaos has suddenly

expanded into a dangerous

regional war with Iran on one

side and Saudi Arabia on the

other.

>> Two well-armed rivals, and

neither side appears willing

to back down.

>> The Saudis insist that Iran

is a hostile belligerent,

adventurous nation, attempting

to export revolution around the

region.

How do you respond?

>> Talk is cheap.

Saudis helped Al Qaeda.

Saudis are funding terrorists.

So they started this sectarian

message.

Not us.

>> The Iranians say you've been

busy supporting extremism.

What's your response to that?

>> Nonsense.

The Iranians are the ones who

are exporting terrorism.

They're the ones who are stoking

the fires of sectarianism.

They are the ones who have been

on an aggressive path since

1979.

>> NARRATOR: From the Iranian

Shia Revolution that ignited the

fire, to the threat felt in

Saudi Arabia.

>> Khomeini described the rulers

of the gulf as being like the

shah.

They, who must be toppled.

>> NARRATOR: Frontline traces

the roots of a deadly divide.

>> It is a power struggle

between Iran and Saudi Arabia

for dominance of the Middle East

and the Muslim world.

>> Iranian and Saudi citizens

aren't the ones that are

suffering.

There's been over a million

casualties in the Middle East

over the last decade.

They've been Syrian.

They've been Iraqi.

They've been Yemeni.

>> As the rhetoric escalates, as

the proxy wars escalate, neither

side seems to appreciate that

they're destroying the region.

>> NARRATOR: Filmed in seven

countries with correspondent

Martin Smith, part one of a

Frontline special series,

“Bitter Rivals”.

♪ ♪

>> MARTIN SMITH: I've reported

from the Middle East for nearly

two decades.

Yet I've never visited Tehran

before.

I've come here to report on the

intense rivalry between Shia

Iran and its Sunni neighbor

Saudi Arabia.

It's been nearly 40 years since

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led

a revolution that toppled the

U.S.-backed monarchy.

Ever since, relations with the

outside world have been

strained.

For an American journalist, it's

not easy to report here.

This is an authoritarian state.

It takes courage for Iranians to

speak out.

Many have been jailed for

opposing the government.

>> One of the sight that we are

going to see on the 22nd when

Imam Khomeini has his lecture...

>> My guide is Sassan.

Usually Sassan works with

tourists, but he has been

assigned to me by a media agency

that operates on behalf of the

government.

>> SMITH: Sassan?

>> Yes, sir?

>> SMITH: You tell me again, who

is this man we're going to see?

>> This gentleman?

>> SMITH: Yes, tell me.

We've given them a list of

people we hope to meet.

But it's not clear who the

government will actually

approve.

>> Mr. Rafighdoost is one of the

living historians of the Iranian

revolution.

And me as an Iranian, this is

the first time I'm going to see

him from the very close in

person.

He wants to...

>> SMITH: The man we're going to

visit today, Mohsen Rafighdoost,

is a founder of Iran's powerful

Islamic Revolutionary Guard

Corps, the IRGC.

Today, as a result of his

connections, he is one of the

wealthiest men in Iran, with

stakes in hundreds of companies.

In the late '70s, he led

protests against Iran's

unpopular shah, preparing for

the day Ayatollah Khomeini would

return from exile.

On February 1, 1979, Rafighdoost

was in charge of Khomeini's

security.

(Rafighdoost):

>> SMITH: Iran's Western-backed

monarch, the shah, had left the

country on what he said was a

vacation.

Khomeini seized the moment.

What was going through your mind

and your heart about what this

meant for the country?

>> REPORTER: The people were in

a frenzy to catch just a glimpse

of the man they revere like a

god.

They clawed and clambered

and ran to see and be near him

for 15 miles, and no more than a

tiny fraction of the multitude

succeeded.

(Rafighdoost):

(crowd shouting):

>> SMITH: Later that same day,

Khomeini gave his first major

address to the Iranian people.

It was a rejection of British

and American domination of the

shah's Iran.

(Khomeini):

(applause and cheering)

(crowd shouts Takbir)

>> SMITH: Khomeini would now use

religion to reorder every aspect

of Iranian life.

And he declared that Islam was

fundamentally opposed to the

whole notion of monarchy.

His message was a direct assault

on kings from the Gulf states to

Saudi Arabia.

Iranians believed it was the end

of decades of autocratic rule

and repression.

(shouting)

>> I believe the revolution was

a demand for dignity on the part

of the Iranian people.

They wanted recognition for who

they were, for their history.

For their identity.

>> SMITH: Do you think Americans

generally understand the Iranian

experience prior to the

revolution?

>> I guess not.

I believe the American people

have not been subjected to the

type of indignation and lack of

respect that the people of Iran

were subjected to.

>> FILM NARRATOR: Today both the

peaceful economy and the

defensive strength of the free

world are heavily dependent upon

the petroleum resources of Iran.

>> SMITH: As the Iranians tell

it, there were decades of

exploitation and abuse.

The West had relied upon Iran to

supply much of its oil.

>> FILM NARRATOR: ...which has

supplied more than a quarter of

Britain's needs...

>> SMITH: The British had

commandeered a near-monopoly of

Iranian oil profits.

>> Iran becomes the center of

a major international crisis.

>> SMITH: Then, in 1951,

Mohammed Mossadegh was nominated

by Iran's parliament to lead the

country's first democratically

elected government.

After Mossadegh nationalized

Iran's British-run oil industry

and chased the shah from Tehran,

the C.I.A. and British spies

engineered a coup in 1953.

>> SMITH: Mossadegh was

arrested, imprisoned, and lived

in captivity for 14 years

until his death.

>> We're not so great at history

in America.

When we say, "That's history,"

it's a pejorative.

Well, the rest of the world

takes history pretty seriously.

And 1953 definitely resonated in

1979.

It resonates today.

(man speaking):

>> SMITH: The shah was

reinstalled.

To stay in power, he built a

massive police state, and relied

on the West for support.

>> Iran, because of the great

leadership of the shah, is an

island of stability in one of

the more troubled areas of the

world.

>> What the United States gave

the shah, aside from flattery,

was military might.

>> SMITH: The U.S. sold him

weapons.

And the C.I.A. trained the

shah's secret police, the SAVAK,

which brutally suppressed all

opposition.

>> During the trouble, I saw

the police beating passers-by

indiscriminately with their

sticks.

>> SMITH: By 1978, the country

was convulsed with protests.

(crowd shouting):

>> SMITH: The people wanted

control of their own destiny.

>> The fact is, the shah has

failed to make civilian

government work.

And until a proper solution is

found here, there can be no

satisfactory form of government

for Iran.

>> SMITH: Then came 1979, and

Khomeini's revolution.

Its impact was felt across the

Middle East, wherever unpopular

elites were supported by the

U.S.

>> A huge mob armed with rifles

and shotguns and screaming,

"Kill the American dogs,"

stormed the U.S. Embassy

compound in Islamabad and set

parts of it afire.

>> 1979 was a crucial year, I

think, for the Muslim world.

I mean, Sunnis were celebrating

the Iranian Revolution as much

as Shias were.

There was enormous enthusiasm

and support, because Khomeini's

initial line was not sectarian

against Sunnis and such.

It was anti-American.

>> Iran today saw the biggest

demonstration yet.

More than one million persons

marched through the streets

shouting, "Death to the shah,

death to Carter."

>> Khomeini's vision was to

annihilate America's presence

from the Middle East.

He wanted this Islamic

Revolution of his to spread, and

to see the end of Western

influence-- cultural, political,

military, financial-- in the

entire Islamic world.

>> It just provided the example

that people, without any foreign

help, were able to engage a very

brutal regime, supported by,

primarily by the United States,

and defeat it.

(Sasson):

>> SMITH: To this day, loyal

regime supporters gather to

celebrate their revolution.

They march down Enghelab, or

Revolution Street, every

February 11.

What brings you here today?

>> "My country is the best

country in all over the world."

>> SMITH: What makes your

country the best country in all

of the world?

>> SMITH: Almost four decades of

indoctrination have ritualized

these anti-American sentiments.

Hello.

My name is Martin.

How do you do?

But what we didn't expect is how

everyone went out of their way

to welcome an American reporter.

>> I like all the people in the

U.S.A.

>> SMITH: They make a

distinction.

(man):

>> SMITH: Many people stay

away in protest against the

regime, but government employees

are expected to attend.

(man):

>> SMITH: Compared to the

passions of 1979, the whole

march had a kind of carnival

feel to it.

There were plenty of

anti-Western posters with all

those familiar slogans.

(chanting):

>> SMITH: More than anything,

the march was about pride and

defiance.

(crowd cheering and chanting)

>> SMITH: But in the beginning,

it was not clear if this

revolution would survive.

It was the American hostage

crisis that would help Khomeini

secure its future.

>> The American Embassy in

Tehran is in the hands of

Muslim students tonight.

Spurred on by an anti-American

speech by the Ayatollah

Khomeini, they stormed the

embassy, fought the Marine

guards for three hours,

overpowered them, and took

dozens of American hostages.

>> SMITH: The fear was that the

United States was preparing to

reinstall the shah.

A small group of students

reacted.

>> The hostages are in our

hands.

>> SMITH: Masoumeh Ebtekar was a

spokesperson for the students.

>> So that in the case of any

military intervention, we will

destroy them.

The students, they believed that

there is a serious possibility

that what happened in 1953, the

coup d'état, could again happen.

History could repeat itself.

>> Militant Muslim students

today vowed to kill the 49

American hostages if the U.S.

launches a military attack

against Iran.

Their demand remains the same--

return the shah to stand trial.

>> SMITH: The taking of the

hostages was initially prompted

when President Carter

reluctantly granted the shah

permission to enter a U.S.

hospital.

>> The former shah of Iran is

suffering from cancer, and is

receiving needed treatment in

this country.

>> The United States gave refuge

to the person who had imprisoned

thousands of people, who had

killed thousands of people on

the streets of Tehran.

He was a mass murderer.

Yet the United States let him

into their country, took him to

a hospital, and then they

expected the Iranian students

not to show outrage?

>> The Iranians burned the

United States flag and

denounced the U.S. government,

saying they would stay until

the U.S. sends the deposed shah

back to Iran.

Earlier today...

>> The students, they thought

that they would take the embassy

for a few hours, maybe.

But then suddenly the people

poured out in millions in

support of this.

And suddenly Imam supported it,

too.

>> SMITH: Khomeini.

>> Yeah, Imam Khomeini.

(Khomeini):

>> Imam Khomeini, he named this

overwhelming response of the

people, he named it as the

second revolution.

He used it to actually construct

the political institutions of

the Islamic Republic of Iran.

(crowd chanting):

>> This was a tactical ploy, to

take the embassy, to demonstrate

revolutionary credentials in the

face of the Great Satan.

We were just a useful tool.

And the regime fostered its

legitimacy by confronting the

United States.

>> SMITH: After the hostage

crisis, Khomeini was fully

empowered.

Post-colonial Middle Eastern

states had embraced nationalism,

capitalism, and communism, but

with Khomeini's revolution, Iran

was embracing Islam.

>> Before '79, Islam as a

political phenomenon was a

marginal idea in the region.

The Arab world was all about

socialism and Arab nationalism,

and Iran was dominated by

secular forces.

Now, once Khomeini takes over,

Islam is squarely put in the

middle of the table in the

Middle East.

>> SMITH: A few hours south of

Tehran is the holy city of Qom,

Iran's pre-eminent center of

Shia learning.

Good, okay.

>> Then you go to the office of

ayatollah, if you want to

interview anything...

>> SMITH: Okay, great, perfect.

Thank you.

I wanted to talk to an ayatollah

here about Khomeini's

revolution.

>> After Islamic Revolution,

there is a movement towards

religion, towards God.

And there is a new role for the

religion in all the issues--

global issues, international

issues.

>> SMITH: The Iranian Revolution

established that Islamic law,

Sharia, would now govern Iran.

And Khomeini determined that a

cleric should rule as its head,

a cleric who received his

authority directly from God.

>> We believe that imams, they

are guided by God.

And, therefore, they are able to

show us the right path.

And this is the idea of Shia.

>> SMITH: Shia are a minority

sect-- around 12 percent of all

Muslims.

They split from the majority

Sunnis 1,400 years ago following

the death of the Prophet

Muhammad.

>> When the Prophet Muhammad

died in 632, a dispute emerged

over who would succeed him.

The Sunnis believed that the

leadership of the Muslim state

and community would go to his

best friend and companion, a man

called Abu Bakr.

(men praying)

But the Shias believe that Ali,

the cousin, should have

succeeded the prophet.

>> SMITH: Shia means "followers

of Ali."

They developed a doctrine that

Ali and his successors were

infallible representatives of

God.

>> He had a certain quality that

was similar to that of the

prophet in that he was

impeccable, or made no errors.

He was error-free.

The Sunnis never agreed to this.

>> SMITH: While in exile,

Khomeini took this Shia belief

and formulated a new kind of

government around it.

He called the principle

velayat-e faqih, the

guardianship of the jurist.

>> What Khomeini did was that he

politicized what was, until

then, much more of a

religious-slash-spiritual

doctrine, and turned it into a

political doctrine whereby a

jurist, a legal and theological

scholar, could actually rule a

state.

>> SMITH: Many Shia scholars

believed Khomeini had gone too

far.

>> He would rule the country,

and he would have ultimate and

final say over all matters.

And if he issues a command

in his capacity as the supreme

leader of Iran, then obeying him

is required, and disobeying him

is a sin.

>> SMITH: He declared his

Islamic revolution in the name

of all Muslims, Shia and Sunni.

But that's not how others saw

it.

>> The revolution had two sides.

Certainly, rhetorically, the

Khomeini's revolution, the 1979

revolution, was pan-Islamic.

But right below that rhetoric,

these were Shia clerics taking

over a country and remaking that

country by the ideas, the

beliefs, the mores of the Shia

clergy.

So it was inextricably Shia.

It was outwardly Shia.

And all of Iran's neighbors saw

this.

Even if it had sort of

pan-Islamic ambitions, it was

very much a Shia experiment.

>> The fact that Khomeini

carried out the revolution in

the name of Islam was a source

of his popularity and power in

the Arab world.

The fact that he was a Shia

ruler was also the limit of his

power.

And it's that limit that the

Saudis, Pakistanis, Egyptians,

Jordanians used in order to make

sure the Iranian revolution

doesn't spread.

>> SMITH: No country feared the

spread of Khomeini's revolution

more than here, across the

Gulf-- Saudi Arabia.

It was a direct challenge for

the leadership of the Islamic

world, and to the royal House of

Saud.

Until 1979, the Saudi royal

family maintained relations with

Iran.

The two countries were both

Western-backed oil-rich

monarchies that the U.S. saw as

pillars of Gulf security.

>> We had very good relations

with the shah, especially in his

later years.

I remember before Khomeini came,

I had gone to Tehran to see the

shah.

And I remember driving to his

palace, Niavaran palace.

It was after dusk.

And there were no lights in the

palace, because there had been a

strike by the oil workers.

And there was no fuel for the

generators.

And it was very indicative of

what was happening in Tehran--

that he was losing his

authority.

>> SMITH: So there's a big

question mark.

Khomeini comes to Tehran, and

you must've been listening

carefully to his words.

>> Absolutely.

Khomeini described the rulers of

the Gulf as being like the shah,

who must be toppled.

>> Khomeini really rattles the

Saudis, because the Supreme

Leader was, in essence,

undermining the Saudi royal

family's own credentials as the

leaders of the Muslim world,

because they are home to Mecca

and Medina, the two holy sites

in Islam.

This is what gives them a

leadership role in the Middle

East.

(horns honking)

>> SMITH: An absolute monarchy,

the Saudi royal family retains

control over everything, from

the country's oil to the news

media.

This is the fifth time I've

reported from here.

In 2005, I was allowed a rare

visit inside the royal palace in

Riyadh.

It was the occasion of a majlis,

where the kingdom's subjects

come for a royal audience.

It reveals a lot about how this

country is governed.

Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul

Aziz, a son of the kingdom's

founder, was then the de-facto

ruler.

To one side sat Sunni Wahhabi

clerics, guardians of tradition,

who habitually resist change.

On his other side, the royal

family-- allies to the West.

These are the partners in power.

(call to prayer over

loudspeaker)

>> SMITH: After the clerics and

the royals paused to pray

together, I took the chance of

asking the crown prince about

his family's claim to power.

If it's okay, I would just like

to ask you a couple of

questions.

He barely responded.

What is the legitimacy of the

monarchy based on?

(Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz):

>> SMITH: In fact, their

legitimacy is rooted in the deal

made at the founding of the

Saudi state in 1932.

King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, in

order to unify the warring

tribes of Arabia, signed a pact

with fundamentalist Wahhabi

clerics.

The Wahhabis follow the

teachings of an 18th-century

Islamic cleric, Mohammed bin Abd

al Wahhab, who had demanded a

return to an older, harsher

faith.

>> Being harsh,

that reflects the

circumstances of Arabia in the

18th century.

You know, when a religious

political movement starts,

always at the beginning, they

are very austere, very

conservative, very harsh, very

radical.

(call to prayer over

loudspeaker)

>> Wahhabism, really, is an

extremely puritan form of Islam.

The Wahhabis believe that Islam

has to be cleansed of all the

accoutrements, that there has to

be very literal interpretation

of the text.

And they are very intolerant

about people who don't agree

with them.

(man):

>> SMITH: In Riyadh I listened

as Saudi Arabia's highest

religious authority, the Grand

Mufti, warned his faithful

against deviation.

The mufti is a direct descendant

of Abd al Wahhab.

>> SMITH: Fundamentalist Sunnis

believe in a direct personal

connection between a believer

and God.

They abhor the Shia embrace of

clerical hierarchy, saints,

shrines, and icons.

(chanting)

>> Wahhabism has a very stark

anti-Shia perspective.

There's no nuance with its

perspective on Shiism.

Shiites are heretics.

Shiism is a heretical strain.

Which makes them effectively

non-Muslims.

They're not part of the tent.

Throughout the 1970s, the royal

family faced dual challenges.

They were trying to modernize

the country and maintain their

alliance with the Wahhabi

clerics.

>> One of the teachings of

Islam is that every Muslim

should at least once make a

pilgrimage to Mecca.

>> SMITH: Their guardianship of

the two holy mosques of Mecca

and Medina had always been their

greatest responsibility.

>> The fact that Mecca is the

source and the shrine of Islam

gives Saudi Arabia a central

place in the Islamic world.

>> SMITH: But then, in November

1979, the Grand Mosque of Mecca

came under terrorist attack.

>> 15,000 pilgrims were praying

at dawn, when the 30 giant

doors were sealed off by

hundreds of members of a

Muslim sect.

The first pictures of the siege

showed gunfire from the minarets

of the Muslim's world holiest

shrine.

An eyewitness said he heard

machine guns and explosions,

possibly grenades, within the

mosque compound.

>> The Saudi leadership saw this

as a challenge to the security

and the stability of the

kingdom.

>> Six or seven thousand

pilgrims remain inside the

buildings as hostages.

>> SMITH: It was just days after

the hostage crisis in Iran

began.

The assumption in the West was

that Iran or Iranian-inspired

Shiites were to blame.

Khomeini shot back, blaming the

Americans.

>> Khomeini for his part is

blaming the United States for

the Muslim extremist takeover

in the holy mosque at Mecca.

>> But the Saudis soon found out

that the attack was led by a

young Saudi militant-- part of a

fringe group of Wahhabi

extremists.

>> RADIO ANNOUNCER: The gunmen

seek to purify the religion from

what they say is the corrupt

influence of the current Saudi

Arabian government.

>> SMITH: Then things went from

bad to worse, and this time Iran

was involved.

In the oil-rich Eastern

Province, thousands of Shia took

to the streets in protest.

(shouting)

This is what the royals had

always feared.

>> The Saudis rightly feared

that the Shia population in the

eastern provinces where all of

their oil is are very quickly

going to gravitate towards Iran,

and they may become rebellious,

they may become secessionist.

>> SMITH: A minority

politically, and economically

excluded for years, Saudi Shias

waved pictures of Khomeini and

demanded that Riyadh grant them

more rights.

>> SMITH: They were encouraged

by Iranian radio stations.

>> SMITH: Radio stations in Iran

called for the Shia to rise up

against the state here.

You weren't in government at

that time.

>> I was a student.

>> SMITH: You were a student.

Do you remember it?

>> Yes.

>> SMITH: What was your reaction

then?

>> It's not their business to

interfere in our affairs.

The Saudis who are Shia are

Saudi citizens, they belong to

the Saudi state.

Their loyalty is to the Saudi

state.

And Iran or nobody else either

has the right to interfere.

We don't go and and try to

provoke minorities in Iran.

We don't go and try to provoke

the Sunnis in Iran into taking

up arms against the Iranian

state.

>> We did not take action

against any country.

>> SMITH: The Iranians see it

differently.

>> We make our views clear about

the nature of governments that

were submissive to the United

States, governments that were

presenting a message of hatred.

>> SMITH: But back in 1979,

there were radio reports coming

out of Iran calling for Shia in

the Eastern Province of Saudi

Arabia to rise up against the

monarchy.

>> Well...

>> SMITH: That sounds like

interference to me.

>> We always rejected the use of

force against governments.

We may have encouraged people to

ask for their rights.

>> SMITH: To crush the uprising,

the Saudis pulled whole

battalions of National Guard

away from Mecca, and brutally

suppressed the protests.

At the same time, back in Mecca,

after a two-week standoff, the

army, with the help of French

commandos, moved in with heavy

weapons and explosives.

And with permission from the

Wahhabi clerics.

>> A religious council had to

be convened to permit the

assault on the holy mosque.

>> Saudi troops have been

conducting a mop up operation

there after driving out all but

a handful of Muslim gunmen.

>> SMITH: Scores of rebels

were killed.

Among those captured was the

ringleader, Juhayman al Otaibi.

Juhayman and his followers had

been outraged by recent social

changes and liberalization

condoned by the royal family.

Over the previous decade, the

monarchy had permitted a gradual

loosening of religious rules.

Women had been given prominent

roles in the media, and were

anchoring news programs without

head coverings.

Western brands, pop culture, and

luxury goods flooded the

country.

>> As the thirst for oil grows

bigger, Saudi Arabia gets

richer and richer and richer.

But Western money has brought

Western attitudes along with it.

Last year revenue from oil...

>> The 1970s oil boom was very

disruptive to a traditional

society.

And the reaction of some of the

zealots that they had in 1979 in

the takeover of the great mosque

was a reaction to that

modernization.

>> SMITH: In fact, Juhayman

would get his way.

After his execution, the Wahhabi

establishment pressured the

royals to put in place many of

the conservative Islamic

practices Juhayman had called

for.

>> The consequence of that

siege, the government started to

be more conservative than it was

before.

I think the government was

trying to absolve themselves and

that, "We are not

anti-religious.

We are not anti the religious

establishment."

They emphasize their religious

credentials.

>> SMITH: Women announcers were

banned from TV.

Even Western companies within

Saudi Arabia were discouraged

from employing women.

Movie theaters and music shops

were shut down.

>> There was a reaction.

Religious authority in the

kingdom promoted stricter

practices of Islam, whether it

is in prayers, in the

performance of religious duties,

and social mores.

Meaning, for example, women had

to be more veiled, if you like,

than had previously been

practiced.

>> SMITH: As Iran had embraced

Shia Islam, Saudi Arabia now

fully embraced its own

fundamentalist Sunni Islam.

The double hit that Saudi Arabia

took, both the revolution of

1979 and the siege of Mecca, did

result in increasing

sectarianism coming out of Iran,

but also coming from Saudi

Arabia.

Is that a fair statement?

>> I think perhaps in some

social context.

But also, there were some who

saw Khomeini's efforts must be

countered by similar sectarian

thrust from Saudi Arabia.

>> SMITH: The Saudi government

would grant their religious

establishment billions more

Saudi petrodollars to spread

Wahhabism around the world.

>> They have to double down

after 1979 because they have

these zealots internally, they

have the threat of Iran.

So they mobilize all their

religious resources.

They pump a lot of money into

religion, basically, both

domestically and

internationally, in order to

boost their legitimacy, and in

order to ward off and fight the

Iranian threat, which was very

serious.

>> SMITH: And then came an

historic opportunity to promote

Wahhabi ideas in a country

back across the Gulf.

A country that had been founded

as an Islamic republic--

Pakistan.

(horns honking)

The King Faisal Mosque in

Islamabad is the largest mosque

in Pakistan, and among the

largest in the world.

Evoking a Bedouin tent, it's

named after Saudi King Faisal

because he funded it.

(praying)

>> The King Faisal Mosque is a

very powerful symbol.

It was built at the height of

the relationship between the

Pakistanis and the Saudis.

Khomeini's revolution was a

religious revolution in favor of

Shi'ism.

And that really prompted the

Saudis then to spend so much

money around the Sunni world to

build up support for Saudi

Arabia and support for

Wahhabism.

>> SMITH: Since the 1960s the

Saudis have funneled over $100

billion into funding mosques and

religious schools all over the

world.

(children praying)

60 years ago, there were two 244

madrassas in Pakistan.

Today there are 24,000.

Many of them are still teaching

conservative Wahhabi doctrines.

A majority Sunni country with a

large Shia population, Pakistan

has become increasingly

sectarian over the years.

>> You know, when I was a young

boy, I didn't know who was a

Shia in my class or who was a

Sunni.

It didn't matter.

It was not an issue.

But after the Iranian Revolution

and after the Saudi money

pouring in here, we split

between the Shia and the Sunni.

It is after that, '79, that this

this became a major issue in

Pakistan.

>> Of course, the Saudis, they

wanted to stop Iranian

influence, and Pakistan became

the junior partner.

But I think for the Saudis, the

great opportunity was the Soviet

invasion of Afghanistan.

>> ABC News has learned that a

massive buildup of Soviet

troops is taking place in

Afghanistan, leading some

intelligence analysts to

conclude that a Soviet invasion

is underway.

>> SMITH: In the same year as

the Saudis were confronted with

the Iranian revolution and the

siege of Mecca, the Soviets

invaded Afghanistan.

The Saudis seized the

opportunity to defend their

Muslim brethren against the

godless communists, and to gain

regional influence.

They found a perfect partner in

Pakistan's president, Zia al

Haq.

>> President Zia al Haq is very

much the man in charge of

Pakistan these days.

He rules the country with his

own particular style.

>> SMITH: Zia had come to power

in a coup and begun a campaign

to Islamicize every aspect of

Pakistani society.

>> When Pakistan was founded,

equal rights for women were

enshrined in the constitution.

Women were accepted in many

professions.

Under General Zia's martial law

regime, the orthodox Muslim view

is gaining ground that a woman

should be completely covered and

veiled.

>> We'd never had such a

transformative military dictator

who wanted to change the whole

British inherited colonial

system of state institutions,

the legal system, the

constitution, and change it all

towards an Islamic system.

Zia introduced Sharia courts

and set up a parallel Islamic

system of punishments.

>> There are public floggings

in Pakistan and the authorities

put microphones around the

necks of those being flogged so

their screams could be

amplified to the crowds

watching the flogging.

>> We started out with an open

hand, hand of love and affection

for the people of Pakistan.

But then I find that at times a

squeeze has to be applied.

>> All this Zia carried out with

his own agenda, but which was

very lavishly funded by the

Saudis.

>> SMITH: Funded by the Saudis,

with the support of the United

States.

>> In addition we are deeply

grateful for President Zia's

visit.

He's a military man who received

part of his training in our

country.

He's familiar with our own

nation.

His knowledge of the

sensitivities and ideals of

America make him particularly

dear to us.

>> SMITH: Beyond his expression

of friendship, President Carter

pledged to defend Pakistan and

Saudi Arabia against Soviet

expansion into the gulf with its

oil.

It became known as the Carter

Doctrine.

>> An attempt by any outside

force to gain control of the

Persian Gulf region will be

regarded as an assault on the

vital interests of the United

States of America.

(applause)

>> The United States wanted

Pakistan and the region to

become a bastion against

communism.

And in order to become a

bastion, they thought that these

religious forces were the best

to act as some sort of a great

break against the expansion of

communist forces.

And that resulted in creating a

monster in Pakistan and in the

region.

>> SMITH: President Carter

approved a covert operation in

which the U.S. and Saudis would

jointly fund the Afghan

mujahedeen.

>> And it was Pakistan and its

intelligence service, ISI, that

identified the Afghan rebel

groups that they wanted most to

support.

And so Pakistan really

affiliated itself with some of

the networks that regarded

Shiism as, you know, heresy.

>> SMITH: So basically the

Americans outsourced the

selection of who to back to the

ISI, to the secret service of

Pakistan?

>> Yep.

>> SMITH: And they chose the

most radical elements of the

jihadists.

>> That's right.

Partly because... Pakistan chose

the most radical elements among

the jihadists because it saw

that radicalism as a potential

instrument of control in

post-Soviet Afghanistan.

If they won the war, these were

groups that would be loyal to

them.

>> In Afghanistan, the Soviets

are continuing their heaviest

offensive of the war against the

Afghan rebels.

>> SMITH: The war dragged on for

years.

Following Carter, President

Reagan celebrated the efforts of

the Afghan fighters...

>> Thank you very much.

>> SMITH: ...and dramatically

increased their support.

>> You are not alone, freedom

fighters.

America will support you with

moral and material assistance--

your right not just to fight and

die for freedom, but to fight

and win freedom.

>> Intelligence sources have

told NBC News that the

administration is now sending

secretly more than $600 million

worth of military supplies to

the resistance fighters in

Afghanistan.

>> Now we know, of course, that

every billion that the Americans

were giving to the Afghan

mujahedeen to fight the Soviets,

the Saudis were matching that.

>> SMITH: And the Saudis did

even more.

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia

had decreed the war a jihad, and

encouraged thousands of Saudis

to become holy warriors.

One of the first to go to

Pakistan and join the Afghan

cause was this man.

>> When bin Laden came to

Pakistan, his first job, which

was given to him by the C.I.A.

and Pakistani intelligence, was

actually to create ammunition

dumps and arms dumps on the

Pakistan-Afghan border but just

inside Afghanistan.

And he dug out these caves,

which eventually became, of

course, the famous caves of Tora

Bora, where he escaped to after

the Americans bombed him and

invaded Afghanistan.

>> The last major convoy of

Soviet troops from Kabul has

crossed the border from

Afghanistan into the Soviet

Union on its way home.

The last Soviet soldiers...

>> SMITH: By 1989, after ten

years of fighting, the

mujahedeen had succeeded.

>> 13,000 Soviet soldiers

killed and the Afghan

guerrillas stronger today than

when it all started.

>> The moment the war ended, the

Americans handed over Afghan

policy to the Pakistanis and the

Saudis, and literally told them,

I mean, "We're out of here now.

You do what you will.

You do what you want."

And what we had then was

Pakistani-Saudi joint support

for bringing in extremist Afghan

mujahedeen into power.

And, of course, everything stems

from there.

If you see the growth of Al

Qaeda and the acts of terrorism

against the West, it all stems

from this original cardinal sin

whereby jihad is elevated, and

is then supported at the global

level by everyone.

>> SMITH: Many of the jihadists

trained for the Afghan war would

mature into the jihadists of Al

Qaeda and ISIS, encouraged by

Saudi Wahhabi teachings.

Why was it that this extremism

came from your schools and from

your mosques?

>> It was the provocation of the

Iranian revolution created a

reaction in the Sunni world that

then translated into extremism

and violence on our streets.

>> SMITH: So you blame the

Iranians?

>> In part, yes.

And in part I blame ourselves

also, in hindsight.

Because are there things that we

could have done?

Probably.

But at the time that... that

this was all... that all these

forces were being unleashed, you

deal with them at the time.

30 years later, you can go back

and say, "Could things have been

done differently?"

Of course.

>> SMITH: That's an important

reflection on your part, I

think.

I think a lot of Americans feel

that they never hear that from

the Saudis.

>> But that's the reality.

That's the nature of life.

You learn as you go.

>> SMITH: While the Saudis

supported jihad in Afghanistan,

Iran took sides in another

regional war.

Across the Middle East, west of

Iraq and Syria, and bordering

Israel, is Lebanon.

(horn honking)

I drove south into Lebanon's

Shia heartland and the town of

Nabatieh.

Lebanon has had a large Shia

minority for hundreds of years.

>> There's been a linkage

between the Lebanese Shia and

Iran that goes back centuries.

So there are family connections

that continue to persist.

The followers of Khomeini going

back to the 1960s have been

there.

>> SMITH: The Shia had been a

poor and disenfranchised group

compared to Lebanon's Christians

and Sunnis.

>> Shia was the marginalized

group in that society.

Population wise, they were big

enough, but their share of power

was not that much.

So Iranian revolution really was

a turning point in a type of

identity revival.

And then, of course, many other

issues came, including the

Israeli aggression.

>> The Middle East appears

dangerously close to all-out

war tonight, with thousands of

Israeli troops deep inside

Lebanon.

>> SMITH: In June 1982, Israel

invaded and occupied southern

Lebanon in order to drive out

the Palestine Liberation

Organization, which had been

shelling Israel from here.

The residents of Nabatiyeh

remember those days.

What do you remember of the time

during the Israeli occupation?

(man):

>> SMITH: Within weeks of

their invasion, Israel had

advanced on Beirut.

>> Israeli warplanes pounded

the area around the

headquarters of the PLO in

central Beirut today, leaving

scores of people dead and

wounded.

>> The Israelis fired shell

after shell into the western

part of the city.

Some analysts said that the Arab

world had reached an all-time

low if it was prepared to stand

by and see an Arab capital taken

by the Israelis.

(crowd chanting):

>> SMITH: Seizing an

opportunity, Khomeini

immediately sent around 1,500

Islamic Revolutionary Guards to

Lebanon.

(chanting)

(Rafighdoost):

>> SMITH: Mohsen Rafighdoost,

one of the founders of the IRGC,

made more than 30 trips to

Lebanon.

>> SMITH: The IRGC, which had

started as Khomeini's private

militia, was always meant to

spread Iran's influence

throughout the Islamic world.

Now they began recruiting Shia

fighters from other local

militias.

>> We had Iranian revolutionary

guards coming into Lebanon.

And they were very much the

impetus to get things going.

This was a very small, nascent

organization back then.

They would inspire the Shia

population there living in these

little hill villages to embrace

the cause of Iran.

And they marshalled them into

military units.

They gave them basic training

and some weaponry as well.

And gradually the ideology of

Hezbollah spread from the Beqaa

to the Shia areas of southern

Beirut.

(men singing song):

>> SMITH: Why was Lebanon given

such a priority?

>> Well, I think they

recognized... first of all,

there's the obvious ideological

struggle against Israel.

And there was an opportunity to

be had.

>> Hezbollah, the Party of God,

the most fanatical of Lebanon's

Shiite Muslims, are now firmly,

openly and successfully

established in Beirut.

Day by day their following

grows.

>> SMITH: When exactly Hezbollah

was formally established is

still contested, but a turning

point for the group came by

accident in 1983, during the

Ashura festival in Nabatieh.

Ashura in Nabatieh is

particularly dramatic.

The Shia faithful cut and beat

themselves bloody to honor the

death of Husayn, the Prophet

Muhammad's grandson, who was

martyred in the 7th century.

But on this day, an Israeli

military convoy lost its way and

drove into the crowd.

People began throwing rocks.

The Israeli soldiers fired back.

At least two people were killed,

and many injured.

Tensions had been escalating for

months.

>> This just in from Beirut.

At least 40 U.S. Marines and ten

French soldiers are dead after

two explosions.

>> SMITH: A week later there was

an attack on Israel's allies

France and the United States.

>> A truck filled with

explosives crashed through the

gate...

>> SMITH: A suicide bomber

driving a truck loaded with TNT

blew up the barracks of U.S.

Marines who had been stationed

as peacekeepers.

>> A minute later, the same

happened here at a French

military headquarters.

>> SMITH: At almost the same

time, another suicide driver

crashed into the French barracks

a few miles away.

>> In Lebanon the death toll

has been steadily climbing all

day-- 125, 135...

>> SMITH: 241 U.S. Marines and

58 French paratroopers died.

>> The explosion was the worst

attack on the Marines...

>> SMITH: The era of suicide

bombings had begun.

The attacks were widely

attributed to Hezbollah acting

under Iranian direction.

And they continued.

>> The latest attack brings to

more than 100 the number of

people killed in bombings in

Lebanon this year.

>> SMITH: The attacks seemed to

be working.

Hezbollah won new followers.

>> More and more fundamentalist

Shiite Muslims are volunteering

to blow themselves up in what

they see as the holy fight

against oppression.

>> SMITH: The U.S. pulled out

and Israel was forced to

retreat.

Israel would eventually withdraw

all its troops from Lebanon.

(shouting)

>> Never before had we seen an

Israeli withdrawal from occupied

Arab territory.

So that was basically the big

turning point-- the image of

Hezbollah as a successful force,

which achieved what other other

Arab militaries were not able to

achieve.

(singing)

>> SMITH: Hezbollah marks their

victories every year in a

celebration they call Liberation

and Resistance Day.

>> SMITH: Hezbollah's security

would not allow us to bring our

own camera crew, so they

assigned us one of their own.

(man singing):

>> SMITH: Hezbollah has grown

into a major political party

with a powerful militia.

Designated a terrorist

organization by the U.S.,

Hezbollah is widely seen as

controlled by Iran.

But Hashem Safieddine, one of

the party's highest ranking

officials, disagrees...

(Safieddine):

>> SMITH: The connection between

Hezbollah and Iran is hard to

deny.

Hezbollah's name, the Party of

God, was given by Ayatollah

Khomeini.

Its emblem is modeled on the

IRGC's.

And they hold allegiance to the

current Supreme Leader,

Ayatollah Khamenei.

(man):

>> The ideology comes very much

from Iran.

Not just the military training,

but the very intensive religious

lessons that they undergo.

Even after they've become

full-fledged fighters, they're

still learning about Islam and

about the velayat-e faqih and

all this kind of thing.

>> SMITH: Velayat-e faqih,

"guardianship of the jurist"--

Khomeini's core doctrine that

gave him ultimate religious and

political authority.

>> Velayat-e faqih, this is

really the backbone of Hezbollah

that binds all its constituents

parts together.

They have to subscribe to this

central ideological pillar.

(man):

>> SMITH: With Iranian funding,

training, arms, and exported

ideology, Iran turned Hezbollah

into a powerful militia that

serves Iran's interests.

For security, Hezbollah's

leader, Hassan Nasrallah,

almost always speaks

from an undisclosed location.

(Nasrallah):

>> SMITH: Was it as clear

at the time that this was

to be a major Iranian project?

>> I don't think the Iranians

necessarily planned that, you

know, in 35 years, by 2017, we

will have turned Hezbollah into

this massive military machine

that is even stronger than the

Lebanese army that Israel has

called for the first time in

January of this year its

greatest threat.

Today, my guesstimate on their

strength is a standing army of

20,000 fully trained fighters.

>> SMITH: And it's a force that

projects outside of the borders

of Lebanon.

>> And it's now a force that

projects outside.

And it allows Iran to project

its influence across... across

the region.

>> SMITH: One can't fully

understand Iran and the bitter

divides in the region today

without looking back to the

1980s and the Iran-Iraq war.

(man speaking over loudspeaker)

Each year Iran rolls out a huge

military parade to commemorate

the eight-year-long conflict.

They see it as instrumental in

shaping their foreign policy

stance today.

>> This event is also an

opportunity for Iran to show off

its military power...

>> SMITH: Here is where they

parade their latest long-range

missiles.

>> ...uniting to keep out

foreign invaders.

>> We are required to produce

our own means of defense

because the United States

conducts a campaign of

preventing Iran from acquiring

its means of defense.

(man shouting on loud speaker)

That campaign started during the

Iran-Iraq war.

So we have to do our own

defense.

>> SMITH: I don't think it's a

war that Americans understand

very well.

Your generation, that now leads

Iran, you were all shaped by

that experience.

>> But it's a very unfortunate

fact that people have short

memories.

And, actually, some of them may

not want to remember what

happened.

>> Iraq declared today that its

fighting with Iran is now a

full-scale war.

Twice today Iraqi warplanes

bombed Iranian air bases.

Iran retaliated with heavy

damage to both sides.

>> SMITH: In the year following

Khomeini's revolution, Saddam

Hussein suddenly attacked Iran.

(loud explosions)

He sensed an opportunity to both

capture territory and possibly

topple the regime before it

became a threat.

>> Are they interested in

knocking off, in toppling the

Khomeini regime?

>> Absolutely, they'd like to

see Khomeini gone and a moderate

regime embedded...

>> This was a shock and awe

operation almost.

Everybody expected the Iranian

government to fall within seven

days.

>> Under Khomeini, Iran's armed

forces are a pale shadow of

their former selves.

The best officers have been

purged, shot or escaped.

>> SMITH: Iran's military was

woefully unprepared.

Without money or allies, Iran

focused on building up their

ground troops.

>> The same way that the

revolution succeeded, Imam

Khomeini brought people by

millions to the war against this

aggression.

(crowd chanting)

>> SMITH: Ayatollah Khomeini

told his people that Iran's

troops were "equipped with

divine power."

(crowd chanting)

Many of those encouraged to

sign up were just boys.

>> How old is he?

How old this guy?

He must be 14, 14 or something.

But he has come here to fight.

He has left his mother, he has

left his father, just to fight

the Iraqis.

>> SMITH: Boys as young as 12

were sent into battle with keys

to wear around their necks--

keys they were told that as Shia

martyrs would get them into

heaven.

Poorly trained and barely armed,

these young soldiers were meant

to clear the way for the more

experienced regular troops in

what became known as human wave

attacks.

>> Young boys aged ten and

upwards sent in human waves by

the Iranians against the Iraqis.

They're told of the glory of

martyrdom.

God will make them invisible to

their enemies.

(gunfire, explosions)

>> Hi, I'm Mohammed.

>> SMITH: Mohammed, good to meet

you.

One of the few reporters to

witness these human wave attacks

was Mohammed Salam, who had been

reporting for the Associated

Press.

>> Come on in.

>> SMITH: Thank you.

I found him at his home in

Beirut.

Did you see these waves of

children?

>> Oh, yes, oh my god, they gave

their little children, the

children soldiers-- 12, 13 years

old-- these keys to heaven.

I mean, that's-- that's-- that--

that's really-- that's-- that's

something that made me cry.

I mean, usually the group was a

group of children with an elder

guy who had the imama,

religious-- who was the leader.

They go through these

minefields.

Then they go through the-the

Iraqi... fortifications that

were actually protected by a

network of napalm mines.

Then they enter Iraq, and during

all this process, they were

under shelling.

They were being blown up.

Earth up, sky down.

(helicopter rotors whirring)

They were being bombed by

helicopters, by warplanes, by

Howitzers, by rocket launchers,

and stepping on mines.

And they kept coming!

They kept coming.

They kept coming.

They were like actually like sea

waves.

And there were more humans than

bullets.

They were stepping on their

colleagues' bodies.

(explosions)

>> SMITH: These human wave

attacks turned out to be

extremely successful.

Iran learned that by sheer force

of numbers they could compete

against Iraq's superior military

power.

Over the course of the war,

hundreds of thousands of Iranian

boys would be sent to the

front lines.

♪ ♪

By Spring of 1982, Iran

succeeded in pushing Iraq back.

>> The Iraqi leader, Saddam

Hussein announced a voluntary

withdrawal from all captured

territory.

>> SMITH: Iran was then faced

with the decision to either

accept a ceasefire or advance

into Iraqi territory.

>> Iranians are showing signs of

resistance to the very idea of a

ceasefire.

>> SMITH: Khomeini chose war.

He declared that Iran would not

be satisfied until Saddam

Hussein was toppled.

(singing):

>> SMITH: Taking the holy

city of Karbala in Iraq-- that

became the battle cry for

Iranian troops.

Karbala is where in the 7th

century the revered Imam Husayn

was martyred.

It's an event depicted in

Iranian films.

>> So Imam Hussain is the

Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

He claimed to be the successor

to the prophet.

♪ ♪

And there was a very famous

battle that took place in

Karbala between him and the

Sunni army.

The Army surrounded him and his

supporters, many of his

supporters abandoned him, and he

was brutally murdered by this

Sunni army.

(man in film):

>> His murder, his abandonment

by his followers has become a

great tragic tale for the Shia

community.

For most of Shia history, that

story, the story of Hussain, was

one of admitting defeat, of

accepting your fate as having to

live under unjust circumstances.

What Ayatollah Khomeini did was

that he reinterpreted this

story.

It became a source for activist

politics for Shias to not accept

their permanent fate having to

live in an unjust state, but

rather one in which they could

take matters into their hands

and try to change the world.

>> ...a dawn raid by Iranian

jets.

>> Fighting on a massive scale

is continuing this morning along

the Iraq-Iran...

>> SMITH: With Khomeini's push

into Iraq, the war entered a

dangerous new phase.

>> ...heavy casualties on both

sides.

>> SMITH: Sunni Gulf states who

had mostly stayed out of the

fight now became involved.

>> No let-up in this war is in

sight.

>> When Khomeini began attacking

Iraq and declaring, publicly,

that his aim was to topple

Saddam and liberate Baghdad,

that's when Saudi Arabia and the

other G.C.C. countries decided

to support Saddam Hussein, along

with European and-and-and

American countries as well.

>> Their nations running into

millions from countries like

Saudi Arabia enable Saddam

Hussein to buy the arms to keep

the war going.

>> We supported Saddam Hussein,

because Saddam Hussein was an

ally.

It was a war between Iran and

Iraq.

Iraq is an Arab country.

We had difference agreements

within the Arab League, and so

we supported Iraq.

Iran at the time publicly called

for the overthrow of the Saudi

government.

>> They want to export their

revolution.

They want to topple the

monarchies.

They want to send their

militias.

Of course, the Saudis will

support Iraq.

>> Iraq buys weapons around the

world.

Countries include France, West

Germany, Russia, Jordan, and

China and many more.

>> We were up against a regime

that was receiving equipment

from almost everybody.

The Americans provided it with

AWAC's intelligence.

The French provided it with

mirage fighters.

The Russians provided it with

MiG fighters.

>> SMITH: And the Saudis?

>> The Saudis provided it with

all the money they need.

>> The Ayatollah Khomeini has

called on the Iraqi Army to

desert and overthrow Iraq's

president, Saddam Hussein.

>> SMITH: Khomeini had hoped

Iraq's Shia-- a majority of the

population-- would support Iran.

But as Iraqis, they opposed

Khomeini's invasion of their

country...

>> When the revolution

happened in Iran, a lot of Arabs

sympathized with the revolution

for various reasons.

>> SMITH: Sunnis as well as

Shias?

>> Sunnis as well as Shias.

But once Iran started the war

machine and started trying to

export the revolution, then

people started to realize

gradually that this is really a

sectarian way to dominate.

>> War has become a way of life

for both sides, as has as hating

each other.

>> This bloody war, which has

cost 200,000 lives...

>> SMITH: Saddam Hussein, now

fully emboldened by his Arab and

Western allies, did not hold

back.

>> Iraq said it will use any

means at its disposal to

vanquish the Iranians.

>> Saddam Hussein was not a

joke, that was a regime.

A real tough, cruel regime.

I mean you cannot...

>> SMITH: Mohammad Salam was in

Iran with Iraqi troops after one

notably brutal battle.

>> After the battle, I went into

the battlefield.

And I found something strange.

I found thousands and thousands

of Iranian soldiers in trenches

holding their AKs and dead.

I couldn't understand what

happened.

They had no bullet wounds.

They had nothing.

They simply had blood up their

noses and mouth.

And they had urinated in their

clothes.

And we started counting and

counting and counting.

Was a full day counting bodies.

Lines of bodies, like the photos

of World War I in trenches.

But obviously it was the first

evidence I saw of the effect of

chemical weapons.

>> SMITH: So you reported this.

>> Yes.

>> SMITH: There was no outrage?

>> Oh, no, nothing.

No, nothing.

No, nothing.

>> SMITH: In the Arab press

there was no outrage?

>> Iraq came out victorious,

period.

>> SMITH: That chemical attack

was one of the first of a series

launched by Saddam Hussein.

Recently declassified C.I.A.

documents have revealed that the

Reagan administration knew about

Saddam Hussein's use of chemical

weapons.

And they suspected he might get

away with it.

At least once the C.I.A. gave

Hussein the intelligence he

needed to target Iranian combat

units, despite knowing he could

again use chemical weapons.

>> These dead Iranians soldiers

lie where they fell.

But they do not bear the

mutilation or obvious signs of

artillery or small arms fire, a

possible indication that

chemical weapons have been used.

>> These were crimes against

humanity.

American officials should be in

prison for these crimes because

they gave Saddam Hussein the

technology.

I was a victim of chemical

attacks personally, and I

survived two attacks.

Where was the outrage?

There was no outrage.

>> In the Persian Gulf today,

both Iran and Iraq have staged

new attacks against each other

while diplomatic efforts

intensify in an effort to bring

about a ceasefire.

>> SMITH: Finally, in 1988,

eight years after it began, with

the war at a stalemate, Khomeini

agreed to a ceasefire.

>> Just as a UN team arrived in

Tehran to discuss a truce in the

eight-year-old Gulf War, Iran

said that Iraq...

>> SMITH: As many as one million

people had died.

>> This has cost more lives than

any conflict since World War II.

>> SMITH: Both Iran and Iraq's

countries and economies had been

devastated.

Iran had been internationally

isolated by the war.

But six years before, Iran could

have stopped it.

You had a chance to bring that

war to an end in 1982.

And yet you made decisions at

the top of the government to

continue the war.

>> No, no, no, no.

It was important that they

confess.

Our condition was that, no, we

do not stop the war unless you

confess that Saddam Hussein is

started this war.

>> SMITH: Was it a mistake to

reject the ceasefire?

>> No, no, in 1988, we had a

resolution, 598, which addressed

Iran's major demand.

That Iraq was responsible to

initiate this war.

That was very important for us.

>> SMITH: But a lotta lives were

lost in the interim.

>> It's the unfortunate

situation.

>> SMITH: For that principle...

>> That's a question that the

Iranian people need to ask the

international community.

Why didn't anybody in the

international community say a

word about the Iraqi use of

chemical weapons?

I believe the international

community owes Iran an

explanation for its disastrous

behavior.

Iran doesn't owe anybody any

explanation for defending

itself.

>> From Iran came a statement

reportedly from Ayatollah

Khomeini, who admitted that

changing his position and

agreeing to a ceasefire was like

taking poison.

He indicated that he only did it

because things had become so

desperate in Iran that the

survival of the revolution

depended upon it.

>> I think more than any other

historic event, it's been the

Iraq war which has really

shaped the worldview and

attitudes of the Islamic

Republic of Iran.

And it's notable when you look

at the last will and testament

of Ayatollah Khomeini, he

reserves the most amount of

hatred not towards America, not

towards Israel, but towards

Saudi Arabia.

And I think it was really as a

result of Saudi Arabia's support

for Saddam Hussein.

>> SMITH: Khomeini's mausoleum

is just south of Tehran.

After accepting the ceasefire,

his son wrote that the Ayatollah

"never again spoke in public."

A year later he died.

But for Iranians, the survival

of the revolution was its own

victory.

>> And the fact that they didn't

win that war, but they didn't

lose that war, was a testament

to them of their resolve and of

the strength of their ideology.

Of the strength of their faith,

that they could basically fight

the entire world.

They could fight the United

States.

They could fight Iraq.

They could fight chemical

weapons.

They could fight Saudi Arabia

and do it all with not having to

capitulate on their ideals, on

their beliefs, or even on their

geographical integrity.

>> SMITH: 14 years later,

Iran would have another chance

to extend its power into Iraq,

this time thanks to

the United States.

>> This was, once upon a time,

the Fertile Crescent.

Saddam's turned it into a

desert.

>> SMITH: I came to Iraq for the

first time in 2003, right after

the fall of Saddam.

I was with the Iraqi writer and

activist Kanan Makiya who, for

more than a decade, had been at

the center of efforts to topple

Saddam.

He hadn't seen Baghdad since he

was 19.

How do you feel coming back

here?

>> I feel that the size of the

task is overwhelming, facing

reconstruction of this country.

>> SMITH: I was with you in

2003.

>> Yeah.

>> SMITH: Just as the American

soldiers had taken down Saddam.

We followed on their heels,

drove up from Kuwait.

You favored that invasion.

>> I did.

For me that kind of regime was

an abomination that I was... I-I

was prepared to say, and I

still think is true, the country

had no future whatsoever

until-until that abomination

was eliminated.

(crowd cheering)

(gunshots)

>> SMITH: For years, Makiya had

been watching as Saddam's Sunni

Arab regime had suppressed all

opposition, including the

majority Shia population with

threats, expulsions and a

routine brutality.

(shouting)

>> (translated): In accordance

with the law, we say he who

collaborates with a foreign

party is sentenced to death.

(gunshots)

>> SMITH: Back in 1991 the Shia

had risen up against Saddam.

The U.S. had just driven

Saddam's army out of Kuwait.

>> Out with that brutal dictator

in Baghdad.

(crowd cheering)

>> SMITH: But President George

Bush Sr. had decided it would be

unwise to take out Saddam.

He encouraged Iraqis to do it

themselves.

>> ...the Iraqi military and the

Iraqi people to take matters

into their own hands and force

Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to

step aside.

(man speaking on loudspeaker)

>> SMITH: The Shia believed the

U.S. would come to their aid.

They were wrong.

(loud explosions)

Saddam came after them with

extreme violence.

>> We used to calculate the

casualties of the 1991 uprising

at 40,000 to 60,000 people in

human rights reports and so on.

We now are talking 100,000

people killed.

The regime did something for the

first time that it hadn't done

before.

It attacks Shiites as Shiites.

(crowd cheering)

>> SMITH: Saddam held

on to power.

But Makiya and other Iraqi

exiles continued to press

the US to help remove him.

>> And I said this at the time,

the chances of

something dramatically better

than Saddam was a very small

chance.

I personally felt morally

obligated to struggle for that

five percent, ten percent chance

that the transition from Saddam

to something better might be

possible.

♪ ♪

>> SMITH: And then came 9/11,

and its consequences...

>> The war on terror is not

confined strictly to the Al

Qaeda that we're chasing.

The war on terror involves

Saddam Hussein.

>> SMITH: This President Bush

would do what his father had

not.

>> ...the history of Saddam

Hussein.

>> Saudi Arabia has publicly

opposed U.S. military action

against Iraq and says the U.S.

won't be allowed to use Saudi

air bases.

>> SMITH: The Bush

Administration sent Vice

President Dick Cheney to Saudi

Arabia to get their support for

an invasion.

But Crown Prince Abdullah warned

against it.

>> ...change in the Saudi

stance.

>> Abdullah, in particular, felt

that we were actively working

against Saudi national security

interests.

>> SMITH: To destabilize the

neighborhood and allow for Iran

to move in.

>> Yeah, and not to heed Saudi

counsel, which was, "Don't do

this."

>> We do not want people to rush

into something that could have

disastrous consequences.

Do you know what will happen the

day after?

What if...

>> Saudi Arabia knew that if you

smash the state in Iraq, you

would open up a Pandora's box.

They just knew it that Iraq

would implode.

And then it would offer an

opportunity to the Iranians to

take it over, which is exactly

what happened.

>> SMITH: But U.S.-Saudi

relations were tense.

15 of the 19 hijackers in the

9/11 attacks were Saudis.

>> The relationship between the

United States and Saudi Arabia

at that point was so poisoned by

9/11, there was really very

little willingness on the

American side to heed this

advice.

They felt that the Saudis, while

maybe not directly complicit in

9/11, were indirectly complicit.

But the momentum for the

invasion out of the Pentagon and

elsewhere, as we well know, was

unstoppable.

>> This was central Baghdad

today as Saddam Hussein's regime

finally lost control.

>> The statue of Saddam Hussein

is still hanging on the

pedestal, but as it collapsed a

great roar came out from the

crowd.

There it goes, it is falling

down to the ground.

It has come apart.

The crowd is going mad, rushing

towards it, they've been pelting

it with stones.

>> SMITH: Taking Baghdad took

just three weeks.

But the Bush administration

failed to anticipate what would

come next.

(chanting)

>> There was a complete failure

to understand the Sunni-Shia

equation that existed in Iraq at

that time.

I think the Americans have never

really understood, even as late

as after 9/11, when there should

have been much greater

understanding of the Muslim

world, the depth of the

antagonism between Shi'ism and

Sunnism.

>> SMITH: With Saddam suddenly

gone, the fervor and strength of

the Shia population was on view

for the first time.

(man singing)

Just days after Baghdad was

taken, Shia poured into the

streets to begin one of their

holiest pilgrimages, the

Arbaeen.

It commemorates the 40th day

after Imam Hussein's death.

(chanting)

An estimated two million

pilgrims turned out.

Shia themselves were surprised

at their numbers.

>> The Shia power came as a

wave, no one was expecting there

is this majority here in the

country.

We didn't know there had been

Arab Shias.

We thought Shi'ism is Iranism.

And then we recognize that we

have, we have Shi'ism in Iraq.

So the fall of Saddam Hussein

really exposed the whole

situation.

This made it a direct fight

between Shi'ism and Sunnism.

(shouting):

>> SMITH: Leading the pilgrims

that day was an ayatollah just

back from years of exile in

Iran.

He and other returning exiles

were eager to remake Iraq into

another Shia Islamist state.

(chanting):

>> Basically, very early on, you

have Shia political groups that

become very important in Shia

politics, after Saddam Hussein.

Groups that had just spent the

last 20 years learning Persian

becoming very close friends with

Iranian leaders, with leaders of

the I.R.G.C., and trusting them

as much as they trusted any

government.

(crowd cheering)

>> What the 2003 invasion did

was give Iran an opportunity

that it could never have dreamt

of having, which was to bring

Shiites into power in Iraq who

were beholden to the Iranian

state.

(man):

(crowd chanting)

>> SMITH: The Americans did you

a favor.

They took out Saddam Hussein.

>> Oh, yes, you are right.

They did us a favor.

>> SMITH: In Tehran they were

elated.

>> To take Saddam Hussein that

we wanted to do.

So you were sacrificing your own

soldiers for our aim.

>> The American role in Iraq is

just a puzzle, I think for me

and I think...

>> SMITH: In Saudi Arabia they

were dumbfounded.

>> Why would the American hand

the government to the allies of

Iran?

Iran is considered a sponsor of

terrorism by the Americans.

>> And those who were on high

before, in particular the

Baathists, who used their power

to repress the Iraqi people,

will be removed from office.

>> SMITH: Then, American

envoy, Paul Bremer, handed Iran

another gift.

>> Shortly, I will issue an

order on measures to extirpate

Ba'athists and Ba'athism from

Iraq forever.

>> SMITH: 30,000 to 40,000

members of Saddam's Ba'athist

Party-- most of them Sunnis--

were banned from holding any

public office.

And the Iraqi army was

dissolved.

Protests broke out immediately.

Moderate Shia leaders had warned

the U.S. against

de-Ba'athification.

>> I considered what happened as

a very wrong mistake and is

going to be disastrous for the

country.

(Abdul Latif al Humayem):

(shouting)

>> The way it was applied it

became an instrument to

intimidate people, even people

not Ba'athists.

It became really a way to-to

push people out.

(siren blaring)

>> SMITH: Violence followed

Bremer's orders.

First a car bomb detonated

outside the Jordanian Embassy,

killing 18 people.

12 days later, a second attack.

(debris falling, shouting)

This one was on the UN

headquarters.

>> The attack was similar to

last week's bombing of the

Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.

>> SMITH: The attacks had been

planned by radical Sunni

extremists.

Their leader was a Jordanian who

had been trained in the

mujahedeen camps of

Afghanistan-- Abu Musab al

Zarqawi.

Later he would tell Osama bin

Laden that he aimed to begin a

sectarian war.

(people shouting)

Ten days after the UN attack, a

massive bomb exploded outside

the holy Shia shrine of Imam Ali

in Najaf just after Friday

prayers.

More than a hundred people were

killed.

Embittered Sunnis and officers

once part of Saddam's regime now

joined Zarqawi's cause.

>> We saw Abu Musab al Zarqawi,

and we are seeing a

proliferation of these groups,

like-minded ones springing up

and joining the cause.

>> For the officers who served

during Saddam regime, I cut his

salary and I put him in the

street.

What do you expect from him?

Of course, he-he will fight.

He will join all the military

groups who try to destabilize

the country, because he lost all

of his rights.

>> These guys are spreading and

growing.

They have hundreds if not

thousands of new Iraqi recruits.

>> There was a sense in the

region that Sunnis had lost and

that Iran was on the rise

because suddenly Shias had more

power in Iraq.

Sunnis, in principle, should not

feel like they are helpless.

They represent 80% of Muslims in

the region.

And yet, many of them are

feeling wronged, and it's hard

to argue with that perception.

(chattering)

>> SMITH: Samarra, in central

Iraq.

During much of the ninth

century, this was the capital of

the great Sunni Abbasid dynasty,

an Islamic empire that stretched

from North Africa across the

Middle East and into Central

Asia.

The Great Mosque of Samarra

completed in 851 was then the

largest mosque in the world.

It could hold more than 10,000

worshippers.

(Mahmoud Mohammad):

>> SMITH: Samarra is a majority

Sunni city, but it's also an

important Shia pilgrimage site.

(radio chatter)

They come to worship under the

golden dome of the Al Askari

Mosque, one of the most sacred

sites in all of Shia theology.

Local Sunnis used to join them.

(Mahmoud Mohammad):

>> Iraq got worse today, a lot

worse.

Terrorists committed a uniquely

shocking act of religious

violence.

>> SMITH: In 2006, two bombs set

off by Zarqawi's al Qaeda in

Iraq destroyed the dome.

Shia took to the streets and

began a new wave of sectarian

reprisals.

(chanting)

These were among the darkest

days Iraq has ever endured.

>> The anguish and rage of the

Shia crowds soon turned into

bloody retaliation.

>> The attack has sparked rage

and revenge across the country.

The majority Shia are venting

their fury on the minority Sunni

Muslims.

>> Many Iraqis have been killed

in the last two days; 47 men

were pulled from buses near

Baghdad and executed.

Sunni mosques are pock marked by

bullets, some still smoldering

after grenade attacks.

>> SMITH: Within a week of the

Samarra bombing, scores of Sunni

mosques were reported attacked;

Sunni imams were killed.

Bodies were dragged through the

streets.

The violence would only

escalate.

The police lost control.

(gunshots)

(crying out in pain)

(shouting)

(sirens blaring)

(radio chatter)

>> SMITH: I was in Iraq a few

months after the bombing.

By that point, the bodies of

Sunni men were turning up

regularly on the streets of

Baghdad.

>> Bravo Charlie, this is Alpha,

we found a dead body, over.

>> SMITH: Shia militia, many of

them funded and trained by Iran,

were operating death squads from

within the Shia-led government.

>> He has no eyes, his ear's

been cut off, his nose has been

cut off.

Tore off part of his skin.

>> SMITH: You see a lot of this?

>> Yes.

>> How often do you find bodies?

(exhaling)

>> Um... every day, every other

day.

>> There was a particularly

gruesome style of murder,

basically a Shia tool, where it

was death by power drill.

That's kinda how you could tell

who was the victim.

The guy had drill holes in his

head, he was probably a Sunni

taken by the Shia.

I mean, what-what the Sunnis

did was no nicer.

But it had sunk to that level.

It was a... it was a horrible,

horrible period.

>> SMITH: And who were the

Shiites that were doing this?

>> Well, there was quite a

collection.

Certainly, the Badrs, the Badr

Brigade was involved in it.

(chanting)

>> SMITH: The Badr Brigade was

just one of many militias

operating under the guidance of

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary

Guard Corps.

>> The I.R.G.C. is the branch of

the Iranian military that does

foreign operations.

Not doing direct fighting

themselves, but supporting

allies.

Helping with training.

Helping with logistics.

Helping with funding.

Where Iran excels is that ground

game.

Is working with people outside

of Iran's borders being able to

create actual relationships of

trust, and being able to get

those groups to do what Iran

wants to do.

(car horns honking)

>> There were hundreds of

different armed groups.

On the Shia side, far more so

than on the Sunni side.

(chanting)

And the Iranians were having a

field day playing or arming this

group, contacting this group.

All of them were turning back to

the Iranians.

>> SMITH: Qais al Khazali runs

one of the most powerful

Iranian-backed Shia militias in

Iraq today.

He claims to have launched 6,000

attacks against American and

allied forces.

Following the bombing of

Samarra, he turned his sights on

al Qaeda.

(Qais al Khazali):

(man shouting)

>> SMITH: Khazali, who has never

spoken to an American TV

reporter before, was open about

the support Iran gave to his

Shia militia in those days.

(Qais al Khazali):

(horn honking)

>> The tensions are sustained by

violence committed on both

sides.

The Shiite militias have not

been disarmed.

Sectarian scores are settled.

From 2006 to 2007, each month

some 3,000 Iraqis were killed.

(sirens blaring)

>> The removal of Saddam Hussein

created this perfect opportunity

for Iran to establish leverage

over an important Arab capital,

Baghdad, and that forced the

Saudis to try to, you know,

counteract that and to confront

Iran.

This Saudi-Iranian competition

is primarily a competition about

the direction of politics in the

Middle East.

The two never fight, but they

have access to proxy forces

throughout the region that can

do the fighting on-on-on

their behalf.

>> SMITH: Within Saudi Arabia

the royals were conflicted about

how to respond to the situation

in Iraq.

>> The Saudi royal family was in

a real difficult position and it

was on the defensive-- worried

about sanctions, worried about

other forms of pressure if it

were accused again of supporting

violent groups like Al Qaeda.

(indistinct chatter)

On the other hand, it had a

restive population, full of

radical ideas, which it had

funded over many years.

You know there were certainly

some people in Saudi Arabia who

thought that it was just and

important to counter Iran's

influence in Iraq after the U.S.

invasion.

>> SMITH: This Saudi insurgent

was encouraged to go to Iraq to

fight the newly empowered Shia.

>> So you had young Saudi men

turning up as volunteers in

Sunni territory of Iraq

facilitated by the same kinds of

networks that have facilitated

the jihad in Afghanistan,

preaching networks, charity

networks, volunteer networks.

>> SMITH: Networks that got

money from the government.

>> Networks that were funded by

the government.

Very much.

And those volunteers would turn

up and the next thing, you know,

a Saudi father would know he'd

be getting a call from somebody

on a cell phone in Baghdad

saying, "Your glorious son was

martyred in a car bombing

yesterday, you know, here's a

video of his last moments."

♪ ♪

>> SMITH: From Riyadh and other

Gulf capitals, money also

streamed into Iraq for the

Sunnis taking up arms.

(Al Humayem):

(loud explosion)

(speaking foreign language)

>> And Abdullah, in particular,

was still so bitter toward us

for having carried out the

invasion in the first place.

I'm sure he was paying people

here and there, but without a

clear policy objective that we

could determine.

>> SMITH: Paying whom?

>> Various Sunni leaders.

They were supporting the tribal

leaderships.

Those were the allegations.

I mean, you know, there was

never any evidence for that.

>> SMITH: I understand there was

no evidence, but what was your

belief?

>> I... my belief was that the

Saudis, at... were not funding

Al Qaeda directly, by any means.

Did some of their largesse get

to Al Qaeda?

Probably.

(loud explosions)

>> Shock and awe, but this time

Sunni insurgents were sending in

the bombs.

The series of coordinated blasts

were in mainly Shia areas have

claimed more than 50 lives.

>> An Al Qaeda group claimed

responsibility today and warned

of more attacks against Iraq's

government.

>> Saudi Arabia was joining the

great struggle against Shi'ism.

And they were successful in so

far as, you know, the sectarian

genie had been let out of the

bottle.

>> The situation in this country

has done nothing but deteriorate

from Al Qaeda, the local

insurgency, the death squads

buried within this government,

to to Iranian influence.

All of it...

>> But the Iranians had much

greater influence.

Because they had an influence

over the majority Shia

population and the new Iraqi

government, which was Shia.

>> SMITH: At the end of that

year, the Shia-led government in

Baghdad cemented their power and

pushed their sectarian agenda

further by rushing forward to

execute Saddam Hussein.

It was a decision carried out

despite U.S. and Arab concerns.

>> We were worried that

something will happen.

We don't know what's that

something happen.

The Americans will change their

mind.

Saddam will run away from-- "run

away"-- from the American

prison.

All sorts of things he can be

done.

>> SMITH: You had bodies showing

up on the streets of the

neighborhoods in Baghdad every

day.

I was here, I saw it.

And in the midst of this, you

have a Sunni Arab leader who is

up for execution.

I mean, the sectarian component

of this or dimension of this

wasn't lost on you?

>> I can assure you that there

was no shred of settling scores

or revenge in my heart or in my

mind when we carried the

execution.

(man speaking foreign language)

>> SMITH: But it was just that.

The government released an

official video of the execution.

But that is not what most of the

Arab world saw and heard.

>> The government said a number

of the relatives of those who

were killed by Saddam's were

asked to attend his execution.

But they started filming--

through their iPhones and so

on-- the scene and started

shouting sectarian slogans.

(shouting)

>> SMITH: Muqtada referred to

the militant Shia cleric whose

father had been tortured and

killed by Saddam.

Saddam responded: "Muqtada?

Is this how you show your

bravery as men?"

(shouting)

>> Saddam, throughout the whole

incident, handled himself very

well.

The rope was put around his

neck.

He refused the hood.

He asked to be allowed to read

verses from the Koran.

>> In the meantime this jeering

shouting crowd hurling insults.

>> And halfway through the

reading of the Koran, the

trapdoor was released.

(man):

>> The only person who emerged

from that scene, that piece of

theater, with dignity was the

arch-criminal himself, Saddam

Hussein.

>> SMITH: So you were the man

that pulled the lever.

>> That's right.

>> SMITH: That released the

door.

>> Yes.

And Saddam came down.

>> SMITH: But clearly then there

was a sectarian tone to the

taunting and his response.

>> I didn't see it that way.

>> SMITH: Many Sunnis did see

it that way.

(chanting):

(gunshots)

>> SMITH: Around the world they

came out to protest.

India, Sri Lanka...

(chanting)

In the West Bank, demonstrators

carried the green Saudi flag and

railed against Iran and Shia.

(shouting):

>> SMITH: The execution was

meant to mark the end of

Saddam's reign of terror.

Instead he emerged as a Sunni

hero who had stood up to both

the Americans and their Shia

partners.

(chanting)

>> Really we shouldn't have

given him that status.

I mean, this dictator, this

criminal, to turn him into a

hero, you see, and courageous,

with all this slogans, you see,

of sectarian content.

It's bad.

It helped him; it damaged us.

(chanting):

>> I was physically sick that

day.

And any lingering doubts and

hopes, et cetera, dissipated.

♪ ♪

>> SMITH: So this weighs heavily

on you?

>> It did, for many years.

And, naturally, for a year or

two I wouldn't admit to the

failure in all its magnitude.

But that was a turning point for

me personally.

It's sickening, you know, to

think that I had-- you know, I

had a role in this was... was

shameful.

♪ ♪