Irony?Gollevainen said:Golly is back so cut out the oneliners...:nono:
Lol.
Irony?Gollevainen said:Golly is back so cut out the oneliners...:nono:
Iran has a $182 billion economy and annual military budget of $4.x billion, which is roughly equal (both economy and military expenditure) to Argentina. I don't think they qualify as 3rd world countries.
IMO if a country can afford to spend 4+ billion/year on their military, I think they can afford to develop and build tanks.
The Iraq's military was only large on paper. Saddam rode that country right into the ground. When Saddam Hussein first took power in 1979, Iraq had $36 billion cash reserves and no long-term foreign debt. Thats' $36 billion USD in 1979 money. Saddam went to war the following year and burnt $120 billion alone on first 4 years of Iran-Iraq war. By war's end Iraq owed $27 billion to Western countries and $50 billion to Gulf States, with inflation running at 40%. So what does Saddam do? Start another war by invading Kuwait.
While the elite Republican Guards were better equipped, the conscript Iraqi infantryman was given as few as 4 live rounds for target pratice during basic training.