This is coolbert: Well, it is a good question as to the ineptness of the Iraqi in the two previous wars with the U.S. Now, during the eight years of war with Iran that started in 1980, the Iraqi acquitted themselves very well, and most of the time on the defensive. Especially outstanding was the performance of the artillery and engineering arm of the Iraqi. The artillery employed, at the end of the eight year conflict the G-3 howitzer with great effectiveness. This particular weapon was of great concern to U.S. planners prior to the ground war in 1991. This particular artillery piece was the creation of the great Canadian weapons designer, Dr. Bull. When developing this howitzer for the Iraqi, Bull asked the Iraqis what concerns had to be played to the report [detonation] and spalling [peeling off of metal fragments from the inside of the barrel] of the howitzer. Both pose a danger to the ground crews and friendly forces in the vicinity of a firing piece. Bull was told by the cold-blooded Iraqi to disregard any dangers from report and spalling and just to make as deadly a weapon as possible!! Which he did. Sarkis, the Armenian arms dealer who is also a U.S. citizen, had a lot of dealings with Saddam and sold a lot of weaponry to the Iraqi during their eight year war with Iraq. Very knowledgeable in the Iraqi military. Sarkis was most emphatic that the Iraqi would fight well against the U.S. "Four years to defeat the Iraqi, and three months just to learn how to fight them", is what Sarkis told Sixty Minutes. My own perception is that the Iraqi was just unable to handle a combined arms type offensive that the U.S. threw at them in both wars. This was something they were not accustomed to or able to adapt to. Probably also meddling from Saddam with regard to military strategy and tactics paid a role in the Iraqi rout. This man is not a military man. He approached things from the political perspective, not the military, to the detriment of the Iraqi military.

coolbert.