Plausability Check: Gulf War in the 60s

Back in 1961 shortly after the British protectorate over Kuwait ended Abd al-Karim Qasim the then dictator of Iraq started making speeches about how it was an integral part of Iraq and should be annexed to it. When units of the Iraqi army was seen massing near the border Kuwait activated the defence agreement it had with the UK who started moving in squadrons of aircraft, the commando carrier HMS Bulwark with an embarked battalion of Royal Marines onboard, various warships, ground troops, and short time later the carrier HMS Illustrious on top of what they had in surrounding countries in the region the Iraqi's got cold feet and never did anything.

So I was wondering what would happen if Qasim played things a bit smarter? Building up his troops on the border in secret or planning it in advance so that they can be massed quickly and not giving everyone advance warning with your speeches seems like a decent start. Also obtaining and implementing intelligence a bit better so you don't do it when a British commando carrier and associated warships are visiting in Pakistan but instead when the UK have the least number of warships in the hemisphere possible would be good as well.

The thing I need help with is what sort of state was the Iraqi military in at the time. Some researching shows that they'd gutted the air force by imprisoning a number of the pilots and driving even more abroad after the 1958 coup d'etat, plus were in the middle of transitioning from British to Soviet aircraft so that threw a major spanner in the works as well. However I can't find out much detail about what sort of state they were in, and even less about the army or navy. The main question is if the planned it properly were they really in any sort if position to pull an invasion off, or if they left it a year or two to get ready could they have done it? Sure they couldn't have won a stand-up fight but if they're already there occupying the country after no early warning would the British have been able to evict them?
 
He probably did it for an array of reasons which had nothing to do with the military, and he just run what he brung. If he organised it around the military aspects he probably would have gone much worse because the time wasn't ripe politically.
 
It would probably be little more than a disaster for the Iraqi's. In the early 60's their military was mostly made up of WW2 vintage weapons. I suppose it could evolve into a general war in the middle east if Arab Nationalism comes to play but that would also most likley bring America into the mix.

P.S. - It was HMS Victorious that was sent to the Gulf; not HMS Illustrious which was scrapped in 1956.

Russell
 
To get a gulf war in the 60s, you'd need both the US and the Soviet Union involved. If Iraq turned to Soviet "council" earlier and bought Soviet weaponry, that should be sufficient to get the US interested in everything the Iraquis say or plan. And given OTL, it seems that no Arab leader has had any problems in changing his allegiance...
 
It gets very interesting because JFK backed the Baathist coup in '63, but Kuwait is a British dependency. The Americans would let Qasim know that they will not tolerate an attack on Kuwait.
 
This might make things a bit easier for the Kurds. They were being bombed by the Iraqui government in the 1950's and 60's...even before Saddam.
 
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