To:everyone: Alrighty, the forum changeover appears to be complete, and my account has survived the transition! I was kinda worried for a bit that I wouldn't be able to recover my account but thankfully its all worked out. Anyways, now I can continue updating this thing!
The Long Road to World War, Part 2
In the aftermath of the 4th Indo-Pakistani War, two major events unfolded. The first was a drastic downsizing of many of the worlds nuclear stockpiles. Horrified by images of the destruction in India and Pakistan on the news and the internet, public opinion of nuclear weapons hit a historic low, resulting in anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations on an unprecedented scale all over the world. In the face of immense public backlash against nuclear weapons, the world's nuclear armed states began an enormous downsizing. Britain and France were the first to take action, becoming the first countries since Ukraine and Kazakhstan to completely disarm their nuclear weapon's systems. Air and Ground systems were eliminated completely, while submarine launched weapons were replaced with conventional cruise missiles. China did similar with its sea based systems, while removing all its air deployed nukes and cutting its ground arsenal in half. The biggest contributors however were the largest nuclear weapons states: the United States and Russia. In November of 2002, George W Bush and Vladimir Putin would sign a new edition of the START treaty, scrapping up to 95% of their respective nuclear stockpiles. It would take several years to completely finish the drawdown, but many hoped that these measures would finally remove the threat of nuclear warfare from the earth once and for all. Unfortunately, world intelligence agencies had failed to find out about Colonel Syed's defection to Iran with his special cargo....
The 2nd major after effect of the Indo-Pakistani war however would be much more negative: an acceleration of already unfolding American plans to invade Iraq. With his advisors already pushing for war with Saddam Hussein, the nuclear destruction of the 4th Indo-Pakistani war gave the Bush administration more political ammunition to push for war with Iraq, arguing that the US had to stop Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Despite many people and countries around the world urging the US not to invade the country, the Bush administration put together its own coalition of allies and launched an invasion of the country on March 24th, 2003.
Promising a lightning fast "Shock and Awe" campaign, US and Coalition forces launched an overwhelming assault on Iraq, whose army had suffered under years of sanctions and deficiency. While American special forces and airborne infantry invaded the country's east by air, the main thrust of the invasion moved into Iraq from Kuwait. Iraqi forces in the south of the country were very quickly overwhelmed by the initial attack.
A large force of the regular Iraqi Army regrouped around Nasiriyah, hoping to blunt the Coalition advance. Despite bringing 3 entire armoured divisions into battle, superior American and British weapons and better trained regular soldiers easily blunted even large numbers of Iraqi tanks, vehicles, conscripts, and militia's. At the same time, with Iraq's air force nowhere to be found, the USAF had total air superiority over the battlefield, something that was used to great advantage in order to destroy large numbers of Iraqi armoured and mechanized units in the open.
Next, the noose began to tighten around Baghdad, as American ground forces from the south linked up with US airborne and special forces brigades in the east. Together, they managed to rout the entire 'Al Medina' armoured division of the Iraqi army and its supporting infantry and militias, securing the American positions in the country's west.
Coalition forces reached the southern outskirts of the Iraqi capital by overruning a large Iraqi force of militias and remnants of the regular army at Kut. US Marines and airmobile infantry easily pushed aside the ragtag Iraqi forces, which either fled into the countryside, or managed to retreat for the defense of Baghdad.
The next battle however would not be so easy. With the fall of Kut, a large formation of Iraqi ground troops was now cut off and surrounded along the Iranian border. Deciding that these forces could be a major threat to American supply lines, British and American forces converged on the swampy area to force their surrender. Expecting a quick routing of the Iraqi troops, the Coalition's generals were surprised when Iraqi forces instead offered very heavy resistance. A bloody battle ensued with Iraqi forces ambushing British and American troops with effective attacks using RPG's, mines, hidden tanks, and small arms fire. After several days of grueling combat, the Iraqi troops would finally surrender, after British tanks managed to reach the Iranian border and their pocket of resistance collapsed. However, it would be a costly victory, with almost 1400 Coalition troops dying in the battle alongside almost 10,000 of their Iraqi counterparts, while thousands of other Iraqi troops surrendered.
With the rearguard now secure, American troops launched their long awaited assault on the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. American tanks with support from US Marines and army infantry entered the city, facing intense resistance from units of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Fighting in urban terrain resulted in very heavy coalition infantry losses, especially as US forces approached Baghdad's city centre.
However, despite the Iraqi Republican Guard's best efforts, they couldn't hold out against the Coalition's enormous firepower, air support, and technical advantages. After a bloody battle that cost the lives of almost 3600 US troops, Baghdad's garrison surrendered and the city fell into Coalition hands. Saddam Hussein meanwhile had fled the city and went into hiding.
With Saddam having disappeared and the Iraqi Army now surrendering in droves, what few Iraqi government officials were left came forward and offered their country's unconditional surrender. Coalition leaders accepted the Iraqi offer, and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended on April 25th, 2003.
In just over a month, Iraq had surrendered and the Saddam Hussein regime had been destroyed, albeit at a far higher cost in US and Coalition lives than had been initially anticipated. From the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, President George W Bush declared "Mission Accomplished", and congratulated the personnel of the US military and their allies on a job well done. However, the Bush administration had vastly underestimated the true scale of the pandora's box that their invasion of Iraq had opened. Instead of bringing peace to an authoritarian Middle Eastern country, the Iraq War would eventually result in he world's next great disaster....
The Long Road to World War, Part 2
In the aftermath of the 4th Indo-Pakistani War, two major events unfolded. The first was a drastic downsizing of many of the worlds nuclear stockpiles. Horrified by images of the destruction in India and Pakistan on the news and the internet, public opinion of nuclear weapons hit a historic low, resulting in anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations on an unprecedented scale all over the world. In the face of immense public backlash against nuclear weapons, the world's nuclear armed states began an enormous downsizing. Britain and France were the first to take action, becoming the first countries since Ukraine and Kazakhstan to completely disarm their nuclear weapon's systems. Air and Ground systems were eliminated completely, while submarine launched weapons were replaced with conventional cruise missiles. China did similar with its sea based systems, while removing all its air deployed nukes and cutting its ground arsenal in half. The biggest contributors however were the largest nuclear weapons states: the United States and Russia. In November of 2002, George W Bush and Vladimir Putin would sign a new edition of the START treaty, scrapping up to 95% of their respective nuclear stockpiles. It would take several years to completely finish the drawdown, but many hoped that these measures would finally remove the threat of nuclear warfare from the earth once and for all. Unfortunately, world intelligence agencies had failed to find out about Colonel Syed's defection to Iran with his special cargo....
The 2nd major after effect of the Indo-Pakistani war however would be much more negative: an acceleration of already unfolding American plans to invade Iraq. With his advisors already pushing for war with Saddam Hussein, the nuclear destruction of the 4th Indo-Pakistani war gave the Bush administration more political ammunition to push for war with Iraq, arguing that the US had to stop Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Despite many people and countries around the world urging the US not to invade the country, the Bush administration put together its own coalition of allies and launched an invasion of the country on March 24th, 2003.
Promising a lightning fast "Shock and Awe" campaign, US and Coalition forces launched an overwhelming assault on Iraq, whose army had suffered under years of sanctions and deficiency. While American special forces and airborne infantry invaded the country's east by air, the main thrust of the invasion moved into Iraq from Kuwait. Iraqi forces in the south of the country were very quickly overwhelmed by the initial attack.
A large force of the regular Iraqi Army regrouped around Nasiriyah, hoping to blunt the Coalition advance. Despite bringing 3 entire armoured divisions into battle, superior American and British weapons and better trained regular soldiers easily blunted even large numbers of Iraqi tanks, vehicles, conscripts, and militia's. At the same time, with Iraq's air force nowhere to be found, the USAF had total air superiority over the battlefield, something that was used to great advantage in order to destroy large numbers of Iraqi armoured and mechanized units in the open.
Next, the noose began to tighten around Baghdad, as American ground forces from the south linked up with US airborne and special forces brigades in the east. Together, they managed to rout the entire 'Al Medina' armoured division of the Iraqi army and its supporting infantry and militias, securing the American positions in the country's west.
Coalition forces reached the southern outskirts of the Iraqi capital by overruning a large Iraqi force of militias and remnants of the regular army at Kut. US Marines and airmobile infantry easily pushed aside the ragtag Iraqi forces, which either fled into the countryside, or managed to retreat for the defense of Baghdad.
The next battle however would not be so easy. With the fall of Kut, a large formation of Iraqi ground troops was now cut off and surrounded along the Iranian border. Deciding that these forces could be a major threat to American supply lines, British and American forces converged on the swampy area to force their surrender. Expecting a quick routing of the Iraqi troops, the Coalition's generals were surprised when Iraqi forces instead offered very heavy resistance. A bloody battle ensued with Iraqi forces ambushing British and American troops with effective attacks using RPG's, mines, hidden tanks, and small arms fire. After several days of grueling combat, the Iraqi troops would finally surrender, after British tanks managed to reach the Iranian border and their pocket of resistance collapsed. However, it would be a costly victory, with almost 1400 Coalition troops dying in the battle alongside almost 10,000 of their Iraqi counterparts, while thousands of other Iraqi troops surrendered.
With the rearguard now secure, American troops launched their long awaited assault on the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. American tanks with support from US Marines and army infantry entered the city, facing intense resistance from units of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Fighting in urban terrain resulted in very heavy coalition infantry losses, especially as US forces approached Baghdad's city centre.
However, despite the Iraqi Republican Guard's best efforts, they couldn't hold out against the Coalition's enormous firepower, air support, and technical advantages. After a bloody battle that cost the lives of almost 3600 US troops, Baghdad's garrison surrendered and the city fell into Coalition hands. Saddam Hussein meanwhile had fled the city and went into hiding.
With Saddam having disappeared and the Iraqi Army now surrendering in droves, what few Iraqi government officials were left came forward and offered their country's unconditional surrender. Coalition leaders accepted the Iraqi offer, and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended on April 25th, 2003.
In just over a month, Iraq had surrendered and the Saddam Hussein regime had been destroyed, albeit at a far higher cost in US and Coalition lives than had been initially anticipated. From the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, President George W Bush declared "Mission Accomplished", and congratulated the personnel of the US military and their allies on a job well done. However, the Bush administration had vastly underestimated the true scale of the pandora's box that their invasion of Iraq had opened. Instead of bringing peace to an authoritarian Middle Eastern country, the Iraq War would eventually result in he world's next great disaster....
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