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Astronuc
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
2023 Award
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Had Saddam taken on Iran or other regional military at the time, it would have been a protracted affair. The US enjoys an unparalleled military superiority with advanced surveillance/reconnaisance systems and advanced weapons systems. Against US air power, the Iraqi pilots fled, apparently some to Iran and perhaps Syria.Ivan Seeking said:Point taken. And that only took 100 hours.
Unfortunately most of Saddam's army were conscripts forced into military service or else. The Republican Guard were held in reserve and those units that went to Kuwait were allowed to retreat. That was a key mistake during the first war. Then Bush suggested the Kurds and Shiites rise up and overthrow Saddam, which they attempted to do. However, they only had light weapons and perhaps a few old pieces of armor and artillery. They did not have aircraft. Norman Schwarzkopf allowed Saddam's military to use helicopters in the north and south 'no-fly zones'. Hussein's military with air support slaughtered thousands of Kurds and Shiites (inlcuding use of chemical weapons) as US forces sat nearby and watched (chemical weapons were not used near US forces AFAIK). They were under orders not to get involved. That was the second error in the first Gulf War, and set the path the where we are now.
Saddam's military was a threat to Iraqis, and perhaps people of neighboring countries, not the US.
BTW, Thomas Rick's Fiasco is an interesting read. Again, it states the exceedingly obvious that the Bush administration, particularly Cheney and Rumsfeld, fabricated (falsified) the cause for war.