To my knowledge the Iraq was totally a match for the Iran during the first Gulf War, yet got steam-roled by the Western coalition afterwards.
They were, more or less, and both country's militaries were effectively destroyed during that war. Holwever, Iran is a more populated country than Iraq, and, if you remember, the Iranians are hideously patriotic; their university students marched out across battlefields, completely unarmed apart from bombs strapped to themselves, to destroy Iraqi tanks.
I share the impression that the Iran grew stronger since then, while the Iraq rather grew weaker.
Sanctions, and popular support.
After the war, and indeed Gulf War 1, the Iraqis were always under intense scrutiny and did nto really have any real foreign support;
the Iranians were never sanctioned, were supplied by the USSR, and actually formed their own, surprisingly modern, arms industry.
And it is true as well to my knowledge that in case of a war with the Iran the population would be much more willing to defend its country than it was the case with Iraq. So yeah, an ground invasion would be a costly mess.
But at the end of the day the USA would wipe the floor with Iranian ass nevertheless. To beat them and to beat them bad is a non-issue. To be willing to pay a price which does hurt a little is the only one.
I'm not so sure, you know.
The Americans can't even handle Iraq or Afghanistan, and they're both countries which should fall easier than Iran.
Iraq is a quite westernised country where a lot of the populace would have welcomed the "coalition", had a proper plan of integration and non-occupation invovling the Ba'ath party been put in place.
Iraq had no tanks, no airforce, a military which couldn't even supply boots to their troops, no real military at all, and while the Americans won the initial battles incredibly quickly, the Americans just can't "do" urban or assymetric warfare.
Afghanistan is a country with no miltitary, where the people fighting the US
can't even shoot and where there are regions of significant support for foreign troops.
Iran, however, has a well equipped army, is hugely mountanous, has a navy, tanks, ari force, elite units, back up plans, and even more terrifying for the americans....
the Persians are almost as patriotic as they are
You don't see the anti-americanism? So what was that rant of yours about? Your neutral or favorable attitude towards the USA? This is not supposed to be blame. I am not using this term in the ideologically colored way you will find in the US.
I see legitimate criticism of a country that arrogantly considers itself the world police, that endangers the lives, or indeed takes them, of thousands of peopel every year, who uses my country as a tool in its nefarious plans, who has implicated me and my people in the wholesale murder of the Iraqis, a country which endangers my life and the lives of people I hold dear by virtue of spreading a rife hatred of the west, and of me and my people around the world.
I'm not anti American, that would be me hating America on account of it being American. I have absolutely no respect for America, however, because it would sooner blow us all to hell for a quick buck or to spread their ideology.
He who would destroy my integrity, and endanger my life is a tyrant and usurper.
