An interesting if, but the Soviets, though at an apparent disadvantage,
weren't faced with such overwhelming military power, and had a history of
successfully repelling invaders. It would have been tough to motivate the
Iraqis to such determination given that they knew their opponents were
vastly superior based on the clear demostrated in the Kuwait war. And I get
the impression the average Iraqi was even less loyal to the Iraqi government
than the Russians were to theirs. Finally, I would imagine the Soviets were
even more ruthless in there methods for enforcing behavior.

Jarg

"Simon Morden" wrote in message
...
Michael Ash wrote:

I do recall thinking, during the
fall of Iraq and the immediate aftermath, that a trained monkey could
probably do a better job of defending that country. Take all of those
army units that got surrounded/wiped out/whatever and simply distribute
them throughout the cities. Give each one a rifle, give RPGs to as many
as you can. Tell them to wait in a building by the window. When they see
Americans, shoot (at) them. As it was, I suppose the high ranks were too
busy trying to get out of harm's way with as much cash as possible to
put any effort into making life hard on the US Army.

I concur. If the Iraqis had been as determined as say, the Soviets in
defense of
Leningrad and Stalingrad, the choices would have been between bomb Baghdad
flat or
suffer massive casualties.

Thank God they weren't.

Indeed, the general level of competence of most terrorist/armed resistance
movements is worryingly low. Where do these guys get their training? (I
know the
answer is the CIA, but I'll just ask nursie for more thorazine rather than
go down
that road...)

Simon Morden
--
__________________________________________________ ______
Visit the Book of Morden at http://www.bookofmorden.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
*Thy Kingdom Come - a brief history of Armageddon* out now from Lone Wolf