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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:07:20 PM EDT
[#1]
About as incompetent as any Roper military
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:07:54 PM EDT
[#2]
We were told the World's 4th largest.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:09:36 PM EDT
[#3]
I remember hearing the media constantly refer to his "million man army" in the lead-up to the war. Made it sound pretty formidable to an 11-year old at least.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:09:45 PM EDT
[#4]
It was very large and able to knock off Kuwait easily enough.
Plus murder tens of thousands of Kurds with VX and Sarin. What it wasn't was a match for Tier Zero armies like the US, UK, and France. Or Israel, had the Iraqi been stupid enough to try them. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:09:48 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We were told the World's 4th largest. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:09:52 PM EDT
[#6]
Quoted: Was his military still pretty formidable even after the war with Iran? They were never really formidable, just numerous. Numbers don't equal formidable. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:10:20 PM EDT
[#7]
Quoted: Was his military still pretty formidable even after the war with Iran? It was big. But it was largely Arab conscripts. The only half capable troops were in the Republican guard, which might have been 2nd or 3rd tier by soviet or western standards. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:11:15 PM EDT
[#8]
Everyone postures and lies about their military strength.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:11:50 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Everyone postures and lies about their military strength.  Failed To Load Title |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:11:55 PM EDT
[#10]
IIRC
8th largest in the world at that time. And combat tested against Iran. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:13:14 PM EDT
[#11]
it was all show, used mainly for keeping the citizens in check. Their helmets were made of paper mache, lol.
I have 2 of the tan ones... literally compressed cardboard or paper, made in korea is what I heard. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:13:32 PM EDT
[#12]
What was that statistic someone posted not long ago, no US soldier (ground troop) died from air attack since 1953.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:14:23 PM EDT
[#13]
They had functional air power which was impressive. I spent a little over a year advising the new Iraqi Army and learned a whole lot about their Sadaam era doctrine. It was a unique mixture of British and Soviet doctrine.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:14:28 PM EDT
[#14]
In terms of sand nations...pretty strong....globally? Softball team
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:17:01 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They had functional air power which was impressive. I spent a little over a year advising the new Iraqi Army and learned a whole lot about their Sadaam era doctrine. It was a unique mixture of British and Soviet doctrine. They did ok against the IRAF, eventually. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:17:06 PM EDT
[#16]
For the region? Pretty strong.
For nations like the US, Russia, and a few others? Well you saw the results. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:19:16 PM EDT
[#17]
Second tier Warsaw Pact (non Soviet/East German) would have held their own against Saddam's Republican Guards had numbers been equal.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:19:43 PM EDT
[#18]
Rate #4 in the coaches poll.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:20:37 PM EDT
[#19]
They weren't as strong as they thought they were.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:22:36 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We were told the World's 4th largest. Yeah.. something like that. But the US Army National Guard was also among the 10 largest armies in the world at the time too. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:22:49 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They did ok against the IRAF, eventually. I met more than a few former IAF pilots, they were all very intelligent and fluent in English. The general rule is that if you found a fluent English speaking officer in the IGFC there was a 99% chance they were a former pilot. I had one walk me through a boneyard of MiG-21s and MiG-25s and tell me all sorts of crazy stuff about how they were used. He even showed me the exact aircraft that shot down Scott Speicher in Desert Storm. It was MiG-25 that had the front end ripped off by US Forces and was being used as a road block at Al Asad airbase. ETA this one  Attached File |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 9:14:42 PM EDT
[#22]
Most were as strangers to the southern desert as we were. They couldn't support themselves in the field.
This is the type of conditions they lived in all day and most of the night, while they avoided being bombed by the Air Force.  |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:01:03 PM EDT
[#23]
The MSM built them up telling us that the "elite" Republican Guard was going to be the most formidable opponent we have ever faced. US troops were in for a long protracted battle taking casualties in the thousands.
Of course they were lying as when we started driving into Iraq at the start of the war they were surrendering enmass. The news media wanted lots of US casualties. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:13:31 PM EDT
[#24]
I was just a little kid when GW1 kicked off, and I didn’t realize the depths to which our news media ached for American losses, and their consequent tendency to build up the Iraqi for es. I still recall reading news articles that went into great detail of the impassable tank traps that we would find ourselves stuck in at the border.
I think it also helps to keep in mind that the Iraqis had that the “lesser tier” “monkey models”, and not the full capability Soviet/Warsaw Pact stuff. T-72 fire control is already pretty primitive, so M1s were always going to tear ass through Iraqi formations in ways that they wouldn’t be able to vs the Soviet/WP forces. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:16:04 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The MSM built them up telling us that the "elite" Republican Guard was going to be the most formidable opponent we have ever faced. US troops were in for a long protracted battle taking casualties in the thousands. Of course they were lying as when we started driving into Iraq at the start of the war they were surrendering enmass. The news media wanted lots of US casualties. I was with the 1st AD and rolled in on the republican guard. The Abrams to my immediate front took a direct hit from... some kinda enemy tank. I did not see who shot it. The Abrams immediately acquired the target and returned fire along with a handful of his Abrams wing men. These were the opening shots for us and I knew in that moment we had won it already. Seeing as how I was in an M113 (A1) and carrying 300 lbs of various explosives I was glad the enemy gunner had targeted the Abrams and not us. A fatal mistake on his part to be sure. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:20:20 PM EDT
[#26]
4 week air war fucked them up
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:22:17 PM EDT
[#27]
Large in numbers but low on skill. My unit (1st MarDiv) in DS went up against the Iraqi 5th mechanized division and it was a rout. Conscript troops, ratty old equipment. Is was so lop-sided and they were such an unworthy adversary it was pathetic.
The Iraqis fought Iran to a standstill essentially. It pretty much turned into a war of attrition IIRC. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:23:35 PM EDT
[#28]
I remember the head of the Pakistani Army said the US would be embarrassed by how seriously we took the Iraqi army. This was a week or so before the war kicked off. Looks like he was right.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:25:31 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It was very large and able to knock off Kuwait easily enough. Plus murder tens of thousands of Kurds with VX and Sarin. What it wasn't was a match for Tier Zero armies like the US, UK, and France. Or Israel, had the Iraqi been stupid enough to try them. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:27:07 PM EDT
[#30]
The press was forecasting 100,000 casualties on the US side.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:31:08 PM EDT
[#31]
I recall an in-depth analysis by my professor discussing how Saddam’s iron grip on power made the Iraqi’s paralyzed and unable to respond as soon as we destroyed their coms. Without any sort of decentralized command, they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make decisions in fear they’d piss off Saddam.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:31:09 PM EDT
[#32]
Pretty much every Arab nation that isn’t being supported by the US is complete trash.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:33:03 PM EDT
[#33]
Biggest ass whipping in history so that strong
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:37:07 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Large in numbers but low on skill. My unit (1st MarDiv) in DS went up against the Iraqi 5th mechanized division and it was a rout. Conscript troops, ratty old equipment. Is was so lop-sided and they were such an unworthy adversary it was pathetic. The Iraqis fought Iran to a standstill essentially. It pretty much turned into a war of attrition IIRC. Our Saudi allies were rolling in on more modern US tanks than the USMC had.. Ain't that some shit. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:38:36 PM EDT
[#35]
They told us in Army basic that we were stacking body bags.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:45:08 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: For the region? Pretty strong. For nations like the US, Russia, and a few others? Well you saw the results. To be fair to the Iraqis, they were facing a coalition of forces that spent the last several decades preparing for the Soviet horde in Europe and the US Forces were at the peak of training and equipment modernization/improvements brought about by the Reagan years. Nobody outside of the Warsaw Pact was going to stand up to that for long in a conventional fight. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:46:22 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted: To be fair to the Iraqis, they were facing a coalition of forces that spent the last several decades preparing for the Soviet horde in Europe and the US Forces were at the peak of training and equipment modernization and improvements brought about by the Reagan years. Nobody outside of the Warsaw Pact was going to stand up to that for long in a conventional fight.  Fucking A
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:46:58 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Everyone postures and lies about their military strength. Especially CNN about our enemies. They so wanted Iraq to win the war and had all but written us off during a large sandstorm that stalled our advance. You could hear the excitement in their voices as they reported on US troops bogged down in the sand... |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:49:26 PM EDT
[#39]
As many others have already said, in their own little corner of the world, they were pretty formidable. Like a single A ball team.
They weren't ready for the big show. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:49:36 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: IIRC 8th largest in the world at that time. And combat tested against Iran. That's like getting a gold medal at the special olympics. Even if they beat Iran and won, they're still retarded. Not that it really matters that it was the 4th, 7th, 8th, etc. largest army in the world, the destruction was so bad that Colin Powell stopped our roll up thru the country because of how bad it would look to the world. And they noticed too. Between our combat effectiveness and the technology we displayed like the F-117, the Russians threw in their chips and collapsed as they realized they couldn't out spend us. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:50:57 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Especially CNN about our enemies. They so wanted Iraq to win the war and had all but written us off during a large sandstorm that stalled our advance. You could hear the excitement in their voices as they reported on US troops bogged down in the sand... |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:52:41 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The press was forecasting 100,000 casualties on the US side. Russian propaganda. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:54:22 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: it was all show, used mainly for keeping the citizens in check. Their helmets were made of paper mache, lol. I have 2 of the tan ones... literally compressed cardboard or paper, made in korea is what I heard. Screen name checks out. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:57:11 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We were told the World's 4th largest. I thought 5th, but that's within the margin of error. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:57:18 PM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted: My Dad sitting at home watching it unfold on TV, later told me that if you wanted to hear about how the US was going to kick the shit out of Iraq, you watched FOX news. If you wanted to see how badly we were going to lose, you watched CNN. Even back then CNN was shit. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Especially CNN about our enemies. They so wanted Iraq to win the war and had all but written us off during a large sandstorm that stalled our advance. You could hear the excitement in their voices as they reported on US troops bogged down in the sand... |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:57:53 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Screen name checks out. 
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:58:01 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Fucking A |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:58:42 PM EDT
[#48]
It was the fourth largest army in the world or maybe the third, and had a reputation for being a very powerful army. I believe most experts were predicting that we would take tens of thousands of casualties.
Fortunately the reputation was not equal to buy reality, and we also learned that despite all of the cold war hype, most Russian weapons are absolute shit. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 10:58:46 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It showed how much more technologically advanced our military was. We wiped the floor with them but no one else could have done it with the ease we did. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: We were told the World's 4th largest. Yes we did , they had no chance in hell, Saddam had quantity not quality and we proved it. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 11:01:22 PM EDT
[#50]
From what I remember, it was pretty well prepared because we armed them.
I believe the Reagan Administration made sure Saddam was armed to the teeth. Good Article This is nothing new... |
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