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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?
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