The American victory against Saddam Hussein's Army came mostly by air force attacks. The US outmatched Iraq's air force capabilities and was able to swipe of the Iraqi army in just a couple of weeks. The air force has also been one of Gaddafi’s main tools for devastating the rebel forces and gaining momentum once again.
Two years ago, Iraq ’s defense ministry bid for a number of fighter jets from the United States Iraq
In February, however, Iraqis went on the streets and protested poor services, one of which was the national food program, which provides millions of Iraqis with basic food supplies such as flour, rice, and sugar. Iraq
I wouldn’t say this is the smartest move and makes me feel quite ambivalent.
On one hand, it is a good sign. If Saddam Hussein was still in power, he wouldn’t have given a second thought to purchasing the fighter jets. For him, advancing the military would have been more important than feeding the hungry crowds. On the other hand, this kind of move leaves more space for other countries to practice regional dominance, something that isn’t in Iraq
Note: Guns vs Butter is a symbol for the economic policy of a government insofar as spending is allocated for either military or social purposes
My Friend Ali, It's really unfortunate that the fighters were never purchased, even though it was for the hungry masses, since as you said, Iran can invade Iraq in a matter of a few weeks, without any air-force, like you said, for transportation, and recon purposes only, which is actually devastating, not only it means Iraq is defenseless but it also means that not much thinking has been put into our defense spending-strategies. And one more thing, Saddam had given Iran most of our air-force fearing its destruction, of allied bombing in the gulf war, and Iran has accounted them as a compensation for the damage during the war which is not acceptable, since not only them were damaged in the war, but Iraq as well, political effort must have been put in order for Iraq to get our fleet back, it included MiGs and Sukhois, as well as French Mirage F1s. I can provide a list if you'd like, more than a billion dollars worth of civil as well as fighter aircrafts. What a waste.
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