More than 30 years have passed since the Gulf War broke out in 1990. At that time, Iraq, which was known as the "fourth largest military power in the world," faced the "United Nations Army" headed by the United States, and the people of the world thought that the process of this war would be long and tragic, and who expected it to turn into a unilateral "massacre."
The shock brought to us by this war has not dissipated to this day, and while lamenting the advanced military concepts and strategies and tactics of the West, people often overlook one point: Is Iraq really worthy of the title of "the world's fourth oldest" at that time? Or is it true that the strength of military power is reflected in the simple accumulation of weapons?
For answers, we may wish to refer to another piece of history.
In the late 1970s, Iran, also a major power in the Middle East, died.
At that time, the Rotten Pahlavi dynasty collapsed, King Mohammed Reza Pahlavi fled in a hurry, and under the leadership of the revolutionary leader Khomeini, Iran ended the era of constitutional monarchy and re-established a theocratic regime. The aspiring leader of the Islamic Revolution couldn't wait to "export the revolution" and threatened to let the fundamentalist wind blow throughout the Middle East. To this end, he deliberately picked an opponent, which was Iraq, which was in full swing at that time. Khomeini called on the believers to go to Iraq to make some noise, maybe the spark can burn the plains, and then overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime.
The political and religious contradictions between the two Countries have a long history, and we will not dwell on them here. Supposedly, it is unreasonable to be put in such a situation, and this kind of thing is in everyone's heart, but Saddam Hussein is probably the opposite, and he may still be a little happy. It should be remembered that the Algiers Agreement reached in March 1975 stipulates that the central line of the Shatt al-Arab Waterway is the border between the two countries, and Iran must also promise not to support the Kurdish rebels in Iraq while returning about 400 square kilometers of iraqi territory.
Although from the perspective of the treaty itself, it seems that Iraq has taken advantage, many Iraqi officials believe that this is a serious damage to the common interests of the Arab world, and it is also a great shame for their own country, including Saddam Hussein, who did not become the president of Iraq at that time. More realistically, the Shatt al-Arab Is Iraq's only passage to the Persian Gulf, and although the ownership of the river is nominally "shared by two countries", who accepts that their own fate is to let others take half of it? What makes the Iraqi side even more bitter is that the Iranian Pahlavi dynasty, with the connivance of the United States and Britain, has been dragging the promised 400 square kilometers of land and refusing to hand it over.
In fact, in the years between the conclusion of the Algiers Agreement and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq has been in a hurry. With the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty, Iran was plunged into the chaos of regime change, which gave Iraq an opportunity to take advantage of the danger. This time, Khomeini took the initiative to "provoke trouble", which gave Saddam Hussein, who had long wanted to fight a war, an excuse.
On September 22, 1980, the Iraqi army suddenly opened fire, dispatching 5 divisions plus 2 brigades, a total of more than 1,200 tanks, and launching attacks on 15 important cities in Iran. As the ground forces marched rapidly, Iraqi Air Force aircraft also took off from the airfield and launched saturated bombardment of targets. With such a large-scale land-air attack at once, it was clear that Saddam Hussein wanted to strike a blow. Unexpectedly, however, Iran withstood this offensive and began a counterattack in the autumn of 1981.
In March 1982, the Iraqi army suffered a major defeat, losing more than 500 tanks and more than 40,000 elite troops in just one battle. In the process, the superficially strong Iraqi army behaved like a miscellaneous army, collapsing at the touch of a button, only fleeing for their lives, and even handing over a large number of intact weapons and equipment to the enemy. In contrast, Iran,the momentum is higher than the wave, and after this battle, the Iranian side has gathered a large army and made a gesture to completely destroy the Iraqi army in one fell swoop.
This period can be described as the "darkest moment" of Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War, and the unsustainable Iraqi government hastily turned over the "Algiers Agreement" and unilaterally announced a ceasefire and withdrawal of troops in an attempt to exchange for the other side's compromise. In June 1982, Iraqi troops were almost completely withdrawn from the war zone, and who expected to turn their heads and find that the Iranians were chasing after them. Iraq had to rush to the battle, and in the face of a morale-high 120,000 Iranian troops, Iraq organized seven rounds of offensives in a row to barely stabilize the front.
Although the two countries are both powerful in the Arab world, they can only be regarded as half a pound against eight or two at best, and neither of them has the ability to completely overwhelm and destroy the other. Since then, the Iran-Iraq War has plunged into a fierce tug-of-war, and the "three-plate axe" of the two countries has not been able to toss out any tricks after cutting down, and even in order to take advantage of the battlefield, the two sides have not hesitated to violate international conventions and use biological and chemical weapons to attack each other's densely populated areas; or launch a "ship attack war" to pick each other's cargo ships to fight and try to cut off the enemy's lifeline. As a result, many ships of other countries were implicated, so much so that the United Nations had to ask the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of 1986 to intervene and send warships to escort the cargo ships of other countries.
Iran and Iraq spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the war, and two "big Middle Eastern households" became destitute. After hitting the back, both sides were unwilling to accept mediation because of their faces, and they were desperate to spend time with each other. At this juncture, a force suddenly stepped forward and directly affected the war situation, and it was the Iraqi Air Force that took a vicious breath on behalf of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military and civilians.
It should be known that at that time, the Iraqi Air Force was one of the most powerful air forces in the Middle East, and Saddam Hussein's regime spent a lot of money to purchase a large number of advanced fighters from the Soviet Union and France. However, in the first half of the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqi Air Force did not play a brilliant role, and one of the big reasons was that Saddam Hussein interfered too much in the air force combat command, and everything was necessary to be approved by him before it could be carried out.
The war situation is changing rapidly, coupled with the "layman pointing out the insider", even if the Iraqi Air Force is well configured, it is expected that the combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. At the critical juncture, the air force top brass was no longer willing to accommodate Saddam Hussein, and a group of generals joined forces to petition, forcing Saddam Hussein to return command to the air force. In a very short time, the Air Force completed the reorganization, and then burst out a powerful combat force. They planned and launched a series of unexpected attacks, accurately destroying a large number of Iranian oil production and export facilities, industrial facilities, etc., almost causing Iran's economic system to collapse. Iran was soon unable to continue the war and had to accept a U.N. ceasefire.
Historians believe that the role played by the Iraqi Air Force in its history is not so pure, and is often even criticized as "disloyal". But it is a matter of fact: at a time of national crisis, those air force generals who dare to force the palace and ultimately help the country turn the situation around are absolutely worthy of the honor of "national heroes".
On the other hand: if Iraq had lost the war, Saddam Hussein's political prestige at home would have been greatly tarnished, and it could have even triggered an incalculable chain reaction. It was with the help of the Air Force that Saddam Hussein avoided these things, and it was reasonable to say that the former should be his "friend" only. I am afraid that even the Air Force is waiting for the president to award them a reward, but what awaits them is not a medal and a commendation, but a cruel purge.
This is a typical historical case of "flying birds exhausted, good bows hidden".
Throughout history, in the short decades from 1941 to 2002, there have been more than 50 coups d'état in Iraq, and the Iraqi Air Force has been involved almost every time. Saddam Hussein, who wanted to consolidate his position of power, would never allow another force in the country to dare to confront him, he had been suspicious of the air force early on; after the Iran-Iraq war, his fears were confirmed, which meant that the good days of the Iraqi air force were over.
As soon as the Iran-Iraq War ended, Saddam Hussein had a "big blood change" for the Air Force: among them, almost all officers above the school level were executed, and a large number of meritorious pilots were shot or imprisoned. The leadership has all been replaced by Saddam's confidants, who are willing to obey, but the level of business is really difficult to say.
Beginning in 1989, the Iraqi government's military spending on the Air Force fell off a cliff compared to before, and the money was not even enough to pay officers and soldiers. After entering the 90s, the Air Force was split again, and some departments were split from it, such as the Air Defense Force. Most of the Iraqi authorities' allocations to the Air Force were skewed to these new departments, while the old Air Force was abandoned, and they didn't even have the money to maintain the equipment. To this end, they have secretly participated in smuggling activities in order to get some money to update technology and equipment.
After the outbreak of the Gulf War, while lamenting the rapid innovation of modern warfare concepts, some people also questioned: Where has the once powerful Iraqi Air Force gone? Why did they seem to disappear out of thin air? We can find out from a report by the CIA.
In August 1990, Iraq had 934 aircraft, including a large number of Su-22, Su-25, MiG, and Mirage fighters, making the Iraqi Air Force the most powerful air force in the Middle East at the time. However, after 1995, the intact rate of fighters in the Iraqi Air Force has been less than 50%, and due to the large shortage of pilots and other professionals, many advanced fighters can only lie in the nest. As of 2000, only about 10 percent of the Air Force's fighters could still take off, 20 percent of its missiles could be used normally, the air defense radar network could only cover about 30 percent of its airspace, and almost all of its equipment had reached a state of overdue service, leaving little combat effectiveness at all.
In just 10 years, the mighty Iraqi Air Force has been destroyed like "evaporation out of thin air", which is really regrettable.
From this point of view, in the Gulf War, the Western countries were able to achieve such brilliant results, on the one hand, thanks to the leading strategic tactics and weapons and equipment, on the other hand, taking the air force as an example, the superficially powerful Iraqi army has actually been wasted by Saddam Hussein into a "sieve". The gap is even more staggering. It's like playing cards: even if the cards are good and fall into the hands of confused players, it is difficult to win.