>>I remember the first Gulf War. The media kept referring to the “Elite Republican Guard”. The Republican Guard was between Baghdad and the old men on the front line who were drafted and used as cannon fodder. We wiped out a large number of those old men and Powell had the shooting fest called off and allowed the “Elite Republican Guard” to retreat intact.
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>>When we invaded Iraq three years ago the media kept bring up the term “Elite Republican Guard”, and what they were going to do to our troops. The media was wrong.
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>>Seems like Iraq had the third biggest Army in the world around 1990?
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>Not hardly. Numerically, I think China has more men in their Army than we do in our entire armed forces. But, yeah, I think the media made the Republican Guard out to be quite the boggyman in both wars.


IIRC the Iraqi army was the fourth largest in the world at the time of the first Gulf War, following the U.S., Russia, and China (not sure what the order was among the top three). We quickly learned they were #4 in terms of soldiers, not fighting prowess or even willingness to fight. They ran away like a bunch of 5 year old girls. Then they did the same thing in 2003 and we acted surprised. No, not surprised -- victorious. What a joke.