TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands.
To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.
I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.
I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.
I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all.
And can we produce any film script available to us, or only those pitched for Ardmore? I ask because overmind made We Happy Few ages ago, and although we don't have a script for it yet, I think it would be better as an Ardmore film in the future, so I'm curious if we could technically do that.
Damn, must be nice to actually be able to prepare for your next semester like a normal person and not have administration ghost you for months, preventing you from doing the shit you're required to do in order to attend your next semester and not lose state and private funding. Must be real nice. I'm not crying, you're crying. 🥲
Damn, must be nice to actually be able to prepare for your next semester like a normal person and not have administration ghost you for months. Must be real nice. I'm not crying, you're crying. 🥲
Sadly it's not admin ghosting me, it's my student payment support (I'm Canadian, I think it's a bit differently done in the states) 😐 Also it'll be my first semester, I took a year off to work and save up some money lol
A palpable tension filled the corridors of the Presidential Palace, heavy with anticipation and unspoken dread. What would the Dictator order this time and what would pay the price to see it done? As one of Saddam Hussein's closest advisors, my role was cloaked in secrecy and fraught with peril, awaiting the leader's sudden command. A foreigner was coming, and I would be his second if he impressed the leader or remove him if he did not. It was early 1982, and the Iran-Iraq War not being won fast enough for the dictator. The easy glory had been taken and there was only the ongoing slow anticipation of watching a foe starve. Yet, Saddam was anything but idle.
The Iran-Iraq War had drained Iraq's resources and tarnished Saddam Hussein's ambitions for international Prestige. Initially, Saddam had been promised a quick victory, Prestige, and increased regional dominance, but the conflict had taken longer than anticipated and the tactics used had alienated western "allies" leaving him eager to restore his image.
Seemingly summoned by the opportunity, a stranger had made his way to Saddam Hussein's court. The man was a doctor not of medicine but of rocketry. I do not know who made the dire mistake of introducing him to the Mad Architect who ruled Iraq, but I recognized the spark of something in his eye as he glanced at me before stepping into that office. The same spark that hinted at either madness or brilliance I had often seen in the Dictator's eye.
Although I wasn't privy to the details of their conversation, Saddam's intense interest indicated that the meeting had been significant. As the Doctor left the office, Saddam's broad smile and the Doctor's firm handshake spoke volumes. There was an unspoken agreement in their eyes—a mutual recognition of something momentous about to unfold.
Then came my turn; it was, as usual, one of those terrifying meetings in which Saddam instructed you to undertake a task. Succeed, and you will be handsomely rewarded. Fail, and unless you could divert the blame, you would face a fate so dreadful that you would pray for a swift end. The fact that I am here shows how good I am at diverting Saddam's moods.
The Supreme Leader of Iraq informed me he had devised a new strategy to unify the nation under his rule and elevate both Iraq and his own status on the international stage. Space would be the next great project for Iraq. I would have the "honor" of managing the project headed by the man who had just left the office, with only minimal oversight from the man Dictator himself, as long as results kept coming. It was to be called Babylon, a reference to the History and greatness of Iraq's past, and I was to make it happen. A cold sweat broke out as I made the appropriate sounds, praising his wisdom and vision and indicating my grateful acceptance. I carefully did not display my doubts about this mad scheme or Iraq's capacity as a third-world country to beat first-world ones at their own game.
When he was tired of my praises, he further explained the project and my intended role. At the time, only a superpower had touched the heavens, the USSR and the USA. Even if we could attempt it, it would be a source of national pride and produce a public outpouring of support for the visionary leader. On the international stage, reaching or even credibly attempting to reach the heavens would turn heads and gain respect, signal to the world that while Iraq's neighbors were barely habitable deserts, camels, and sand dunes, Iraq was different and a peer to any country. In short, the project was to win the recognition and respect that the war with Iran had failed to achieve by force of arms.
I was to build and run what amounted to a space theme park for scientists and international observers, a Potemkin village, a false microcosm of Iraq for the world to visit. Visitors were to be so blinded by fantasy and scientific endeavors that they would not see the real Iraq and bother our leader with trivial things like "Human rights abuse." As a secondary action, I was to acquire and maximize all so-called dual-use technologies that Doctor Bull and his Scientist could direct my way to benefit Iraq's war machine. Finally, in the act of stunning pettiness, ensure that at least one "failure" launch would end up breaking something in Tehran. He finished by stating he would watch my progress with great interest.
I smiled, agreed, and thanked him for the opportunity, even as cold sweat ran down my spine.
<>
In hindsight, space was possibly not the strangest thing the Dictator could decide on as the newest cure to all his issues. The movie Star Wars and its sequel spurred a global fascination with space and a re-ignition of the space race. A third movie was rumored to be in development. Carter had announced that America would return to the Moon to an ecstatic public; seeing which way the wind blew, Reagan had not cut the funding.
On the other side of the Iron Curtain, the Soviets, while keeping their cards close to their chest, were featuring their new space plane any chance they could. Space was exciting; space was the powerful and popular realm. Space was an Endeavor that would theoretically earn him a seat at the high table of global leaders. Space also involved products that were, directly and indirectly, useful to the military machine. Any restrictions and he could cry foul and state "they" were sabotaging a peaceful attempt to go to the stars. However, first, we had to get there.
Dr. Gerald Bull, the mastermind behind the project, was a man of complex motivations. Once internationally esteemed, now a pariah. His drive and resourcefulness made him a valuable, albeit volatile, asset. Loyal service to the American and Canadian governments in Ballistics and high-altitude Research had ended in a six-month prison stay for supplying weapons and expertise to South Africa, as he had been instructed to do. He had been expandable. He was disavowed by his masters as challenging to work with and politically undesirable. As such, on his release, he embraced his new Mercenary Scientist persona and started selling his services to the highest bidder. On arrival in Iraq, He rapidly proved his worth as a ballistics expert and his reputation as not one to cross. He worked miracles with the tank core and deftly navigated the political landscape, finally the Dictator's ear.
The project aimed to develop enormous guns capable of launching objects into space, significantly reducing costs by eliminating the first stage of a traditional rocket. His work with HARP, the high-altitude research project for the Americans before it was shut down, made it possible and even feasible. He made it look like a relatively simple effort to complete the final test to prove viability and modify and improve the SCUD's that were to be the guided portion of the launch.
Why did Saddam agree to such a seemingly peaceful endeavor, I do not know. If he wanted something destroyed, SCUD missiles were cheaper and more reliable. The closest I have to a hint was when Bull started showing Saddam a clip from The Empire Strikes Back where the big gun on the snow planet shoots a spaceship. To be able to destroy something is to have power over it. Yes, the weapon could launch satellites, but if it could launch a satellite, it could also shoot one down. It would have been a very Saddam impulse to ensure he was lord of all he surveyed with no exceptions, not even in the heavens. The challenge was designing, testing, and constructing the guns so that it would be too late for anyone to stop us, so we needed an excuse. We needed a series of excuses, misdirection, and a healthy dose of luck, and in recent Geopolitics, we found it.
<>
Space had recently become more civil. The announcement of the Artemis program and China's new status had made Russia, once again the leader of the Communist bloc, the "reasonable" and "honorable" foe. China had been a rising power courted by the West; however, it misstepped in both failing to assassinate somebody too well connected to ignore and being caught doing so. Leaders across the world decided that they would prefer to send their armies to battle each other while guiding from the back lines rather than face assassinations in the dark of their own homes. So China was Exiled, and Russia was invited back to be the "trustable" foe. Old conflicts would be reignited in forms that showed an air of cooperation, camaraderie, and practicality. The greatest and arguably the most successful of those was the competing exploration of space.
The original space programs forged swords into plowshares. They carefully did not mention that the skills to do so made better swords possible. Saddam sought to do the same, profit by turning Scuds into proper rockets like they did with V2s and seeking investors Expected. By the time the superpowers returned to saber-rattling, more and better rockets would have come along. Using up stockpiles and giving factories something to do was the name of the game.
Do you think America does not do it, too? Look at the boosters on the space shuttle. Those are barely repurposed ballistic missiles, or so the Doctor tells me.
As it was officially dubbed, the Babylon project was meticulously orchestrated. On the surface, it showcased Iraq's scientific prowess, a grand display blending History with advanced technology. It was designed to present Iraq as a burgeoning leader in the space industry, projecting an image of prosperity and innovation. It was a carefully managed scientific affair, part history, part astronomy, part rocketry, part pageantry. It was to put Iraq's best foot forward for the civilian space industry. It was to be well-managed, open, and welcoming. It was to be the first and only contact most of the rest of the world had with Iraq. Offers were to be made to launch civilian satellites at competitive costs contingent on the Doctor's technology working out. Model towns supplying the space industry were constructed to provide goods and show happy, productive, and welcoming civilians grateful for Saddam's benevolent rule.
On its second level, the ones we were told to find, capture, and detain spies, was the outer layer of industrial secrets. Here, development would happen on the Space Guns and the Modified SCUD's, the rockets we used. A certain level of information leakage was to be expected. Still, to any spy poking at this level, it was to be clear that Iraq's space program was for Prestige and creating a new high-tech industry, all above board, so there was no need to look deeper. If not encouraged, it was permissible to have less flattering things like plants that made rocket fuel less than perfect or other manufacturing limits like basic safety measures. These things would cost a civilian company money and reputation if they got out, but nothing that would genuinely embarrass the Dictator. A talented spy was to find this and be satisfied that they had found the dark plot, pat himself on the back, and return home, not suspecting the third level to the deception.
The third level, hidden in the shadows of the first to and away from foreign eyes, included dual-use technologies and the space gun among them. Saddam wanted this level to be secure until it was too late. Space is the ultimate high ground. A rocket that could reach orbit could also reach London, Paris, Washington, Moscow, or Beijing. The same technology that improved SCUDS for space civilian purposes would add Iraq to the MAD list. Spy Satellites to hostile powers would suffer "tragic accidents" when "Guidance failures" drove a relatively cheap scud into a two billion dollar spy satellite or Global (and missile) positioning military satellites. That was besides the advantages that a rocket industry would give Iraq's military in terms of cheaper, more accurate, and better-quality SCUD missiles.
<>
As to how we got so far before being found out, consider the following:
You are a spy concerned with a dictator's purchases. He has a country that produces oil and requests specially-made pipe sections from a reputable supplier. High pressure for oil production seems plausible, as it aligns with the Dictator's investment strategy. You changed the priority of the investigation to low; China has done something that must be investigated again.
Time passes as we build and test in the desert. You see, the Dictator keeps ordering more and more of these parts. You hear of a disagreement after a factory has explicitly been tooled for his order. You watch closely. You finally send an agent to monitor. The parts go from the factory to his country to a facility that tests the pipe pressure and re bores the pipe, removing the flaws. Then, they are installed in a fractional distillation plant, allowing Saddam to sell pre-refined products instead of crude oil.
You know the refinery has the pipe you where watching installed, it has the small details you scratched into it. There are even marks of pressure testing and expansion, as expected. No guard allows your spy to get close to the facility where the work was done, which may simply be protecting industrial secrets. What can be used to accurately bore pipes for oil work can also be used to make parts for a Nuclear centrifuge. So you watch and wait at a distance, and check more pipes. More importantly, you take time. Careful checking reveals pipes that go in seem to come out eventually. If the speed is slower and It costs more money than in a Western country; well, specialists are selected more for their ability to please the Dictator, not actual skill. The site is suspicious enough not to be suspicious, so maybe the duplicity was not here but elsewhere.
The Spy is caught moving on Gently, by Iraqi standards, interrogated with particular emphasis for industrial secrets and Deported. With privacy work here can speed up. Meanwhile, with the new hint your spy goes back to the factory in the UK or Germany that made the pipes and pokes around. They discover that the part had been incorrectly sized, inches instead of centimeters, or something, and thus made incorrectly the only oddity a doctor Bull has signed for it.
A deep, extensive, and lengthy investigation reveals the company thinks the ordered part did not match what the Dictator thought he was getting. But after an expensive meal, a night in the town, a questionable tech transfer, and a facility built in Iraq- the investors and board are now happy that the multi-million-dollar order is being served and they will receive their bonuses. Dr. Bull is a great man to have calmed the Dictator after such an easy mistake and still arranged for more work and personal bonuses for the board.
The suspicious activity is found, your instincts were right. It is just industrial fraud, and certain governments have been encouraging companies to flout restrictions in the name of profits and taxes. But in truth, the boring facility in Iraq is being used to recycle unusable and worn-out barrel pieces of the Baby Babylon super gun during development. It also allows tanks to have their guns repaired and upgraded. I draw your attention to the massive gains in the war with Iran to see how well that was going for Saddam. So, the truth with a bodyguard of lies remained concealed.
<>
The world first understood the beginnings of the deception in late 1982 when Saddam Hussein unveiled a meticulously crafted model village on the outskirts of Baghdad. It was a spectacle designed to dazzle and deceive. It was a perfect blend of historical grandeur and futuristic aspirations to showcase Iraq's supposed prosperity and technological progress. It blended traditional architecture and geometric shapes with an unknown style that anyone familiar with Star wars would find familiar. In the center of this artificial paradise stood a Ziggurat with a copy of the Hanging Gardens, and up one side, the prototype of the super gun, towering over the landscape like a monolithic symbol of Iraq's newfound power. Behind the full-sized Babylon gun, under construction, was a mountain pointed east and "coincidentally" towards Tehran.
I stood to the side of Saddam Hussein as he was cheered on by the crowd for his achievement. The crowd rapturously heard that by reusing soviet rocket tech, the launch costs of a kilo of material could be dropped by a third. While some issues remain, the delivery of shock-resistant materials such as water or fuel to orbit is presently possible. A single American Space Shuttle, or Soviet Buran mission, could collect these cargo sleds and assemble whatever they wished in orbit. There would be more work and development, increasing the payload capacity. Words that had no meaning to me, like magnetic acceleration and muti charge launch, were used. Hints that more than one gun was being constructed were dropped by the Dictator even as three more barrels were built to ensure strike by jealous neighbours could not destroy them all.
We were expanding the stage on which Saddam could simultaneously strut his grand performance while hiding the grim realities of his rule behind a veneer of technological triumph and manufactured success. From the positive mentions in the global press, Babylon was a masterpiece of deception, accepted as purely Civilian even as we calculated routes to drop rockets on Tehran by "accident". Civilian facilities and housing made any retaliatory assault bait for war crime accusations. At the same time, foreign scientists and astronomers stood as unwitting hostages. Beside me, Dr. Gerald Bull, Privy to all and architect of most, smiled that unsettling smile while his eyes twinkled that same look back into Saddam Hussein's eyes back the Dictator while accepting the Dictator's congratulations on this peaceful scientific endeavor. Cold sweat returned to my spine even as my lips moved involuntarily to add my praise. I know not what I had unleashed, but I still drew breath, and in Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, that itself was an achievement.
Saddam, look at my Dictator Superweapon; cower at my brilliance; look at the economic forces that mean that space is now mine to command.
And Mary comes in with a steel chair rocket proposal for NASA.
Small children, the eternal enemy to Evil overlords plans. Item 12 on the TV troupes Evil overlord list
Can I get a Bonus for the NASA rocket roll? Mary needs her Wikipedia entry.
Thanks, @eumarthan and @Kaiser Chris. Here is a possible reason why the tank forces do better and what the progress could be on Project Babylon. subject to @Magoose of course.
While researching, I found Saddam had a movie made about the founding of Iraq, big budget and all complete with a British cast and crew. but OTL never had a publisher. In this timeline, if the timing is especially good or bad, do you think Saddam might ask Sony, Fox, or Universal to publish?
All we need now is to add more gun and put them in a giant circle and around each other and a silent fighter pilot to recreate Ace Combat.
Awesome story @Xsplora . You can really tell the advisor a cynical one and is tired of Saddams Bullcrap but hey babysitting a mad Scientist is easier to do than scrambling every minute trying to appease the Dictator
A palpable tension filled the corridors of the Presidential Palace, heavy with anticipation and unspoken dread. As one of Saddam Hussein's closest advisors, my role was cloaked in secrecy and fraught with peril, awaiting the leader's sudden command. A foreigner was coming, and I would be his second if he impressed the leader or remove him if he did not. It was early 1982, and the Iran-Iraq War was slowly devolving into a bloody stalemate. The battlefield had become frozen, a chemical wasteland where neither side could claim a decisive victory or even meaningfully advance. Yet, Saddam was anything but idle.
The Iran-Iraq War had drained Iraq's resources and tarnished Saddam Hussein's ambitions for international Prestige. Initially, Saddam had been promised a quick victory, Prestige, and increased regional dominance, but the conflict had stalled, leaving him eager to restore his standing..
A stalemate? Iraq conquered Khuzestan and they're definitively winning. It's just a matter of waiting out Tehran until they sue for peace or collapse.
Is the Hoth Gun just a ego project more for show than practicality? Because I really hope we didn't give an actual WMD to Iraq from player action when Saddam never showed much interest in space OTL. Kind of crazy that Bush would be justified in invading Iraq.
A palpable tension filled the corridors of the Presidential Palace, heavy with anticipation and unspoken dread. As one of Saddam Hussein's closest advisors, my role was cloaked in secrecy and fraught with peril, awaiting the leader's sudden command. A foreigner was coming, and I would be his second if he impressed the leader or remove him if he did not. It was early 1982, and the Iran-Iraq War was slowly devolving into a bloody stalemate. The battlefield had become frozen, a chemical wasteland where neither side could claim a decisive victory or even meaningfully advance. Yet, Saddam was anything but idle.
Saddam achieved all his desires and is happily digging in while pubicly calling for a cease fire. This war cloudn't have gone better for him, so he should be happy and the Palace should have no tension but joy and pride.
When he was tired of my praises, he further explained the project and my intended role. At the time, only a superpower had touched the heavens, the USSR and the USA. Even if we could attempt it, it would be a source of national pride and produce a public outpouring of support for the visionary leader. On the international stage, reaching or even credibly attempting to reach the heavens would turn heads and gain respect, signal to the world that while Iraq's neighbors were barely habitable deserts, camels, and sand dunes, Iraq was different and a peer to any country. In short, the project was to win the recognition and respect that the war with Iran had failed to achieve by force of arms.
Is this Project Babylon? The artillery piece that was as advanced as the Nazi V3 cannon in '44? Also Saddam is in the middle of a war why would he focus on a pie in the sky super weapon when he could build more SCUD missiles?
The third level, hidden in the shadows of the first to and away from foreign eyes, included dual-use technologies and the space gun among them. Saddam wanted this level to be secure until it was too late. Space is the ultimate high ground. A rocket that could reach orbit could also reach London, Paris, Washington, Moscow, or Beijing. The same technology that improved SCUDS for space civilian purposes would add Iraq to the MAD list. Spy Satellites to hostile powers would suffer "tragic accidents" when "Guidance failures" drove a relatively cheap scud into a two billion dollar spy satellite or Global (and missile) positioning military satellites. That was besides the advantages that a rocket industry would give Iraq's military in terms of cheaper, more accurate, and better-quality SCUD missiles.
You can't create an areospace industry on the back of one scientist. It takes billions of dollars and a legion of engineers, scientists and other experts with great education to create something your describing and Saddam is in the middle of a war with Iran. A war that's in deadly stalemate in your words. There is a reason why the areospace industry is only present in a couple countries.
Don't take this the wrong way but this is fanatasy from the wildest dreams of Saddam and even he didn't care for space. You're using '40 and '50 tech and saying that a third world dictator with a single scientist can create a super weapon that destroys an army and launches things in space for cheap while the super powers have not a single idea of its exsistance or have ever attempted to build something similar.
This quest is not super duper realistic but it's still grounded.
A stalemate? Iraq conquered Khuzestan and they're definitively winning. It's just a matter of waiting out Tehran until they sue for peace or collapse.
Is the Hoth Gun just a ego project more for show than practicality? Because I really hope we didn't give an actual WMD to Iraq from player action when Saddam never showed much interest in space OTL. Kind of crazy that Bush would be justified in invading Iraq.
I picture Saddam as a man who considers the situation a stalemate unless he is actively advancing. While he is winning, he is not winning fast enough and upset that the expected international glory is lacking. So yes this is the replacement Ego project. I pushed up his real achievements from late 1980's to early 1980s in light of the better strategic situation and the Star wars Effect.
That said i am happy to bow to your understanding and change the mood as described in the opening piece.
Saddam achieved all his desires and is happily digging in while pubicly calling for a cease fire. This war cloudn't have gone better for him, so he should be happy and the Palace should have no tension but joy and pride.
Is this Project Babylon? The artillery piece that was as advanced as the Nazi V3 cannon in '44? Also Saddam is in the middle of a war why would he focus on a pie in the sky super weapon when he could build more SCUD missiles?
You can't create an areospace industry on the back of one scientist. It takes billions of dollars and a legion of engineers, scientists and other experts with great education to create something your describing and Saddam is in the middle of a war with Iran. A war that's in deadly stalemate in your words. There is a reason why the areospace industry is only present in a couple countries.
Don't take this the wrong way but this is fanatasy from the wildest dreams of Saddam and even he didn't care for space. You're using '40 and '50 tech and saying that a third world dictator with a single scientist can create a super weapon that destroys an army and launches things in space for cheap while the super powers have not a single idea of its exsistance or have ever attempted to build something similar.
This quest is not super duper realistic but it's still grounded.
It is a bit out there but Saddam's interest in space? Sources are minimal but there does appear to be a brief period where he was actually interested. To the point that several satellites were built. Combine that interest with the bonuses for Star Wars and space and I picture him being persuaded to build a giant cannon.
As to him having a practical superweapon? It's a threat on par with the Paris gun. More psychological than militarily use. The structures are all but immobile and even if they could be easily moved the launch having the power of a small nuke going off means that they are quickly findable on launch.
Secondly, and I hinted it in the text, Barrel erosion. This is a significant problem with really big guns is containing the vast pressures and the sheer speed the payload goes past. This wears down the barrel fast enough that the Paris gun, a smaller weapon , needed to have shells made in progressively larger sizes so to compensate and even then the barrel had to be replaced every 65 shells. Better metallurgy helps but only to a point. Saddam is going to lay a lot of extra pipelines but if he was going to anyway he may as well make a lot of money and prestige out of launching things into space with the pipe first.
Finally why didn't somebody else do it first? Well Bull was working on Project HARP before funding was diverted due to the Vietnam war. Its less Saddam developed it and more he's stolen the US's homework. they have Baby Babylon working as he did in 1989 but big Babylon is still unfinished.
So it's less of an actual Death Star and more of a big bluff that crumbles if you actually push back even just slightly(if you're a world superpower, that is)?
Giving any kind of advantage to Saddam, even if only as a bluff, really rankles on me. Still, at least it doesn't make him more dangerous than he already is.
Giving any kind of advantage to Saddam, even if only as a bluff, really rankles on me. Still, at least it doesn't make him more dangerous than he already is.
I feel ya' man, lol. On the one hand, I love Khomeini having his butt handed to him on a silver platter. On the other hand, I hate that it's Saddamn Insane presenting it to him.
Giving any kind of advantage to Saddam, even if only as a bluff, really rankles on me. Still, at least it doesn't make him more dangerous than he already is.
So it's less of an actual Death Star and more of a big bluff that crumbles if you actually push back even just slightly(if you're a world superpower, that is)?
Giving any kind of advantage to Saddam, even if only as a bluff, really rankles on me. Still, at least it doesn't make him more dangerous than he already is.
The only tangible benefit is Saddam has what amounts to a cheaper launch method for things that don't mind the rougher launch like liquids water fuel etc. I am more trying to set him up for a fall as Mary comes along with her rocket.
Saddam has just spent vast amounts of time effort and money one upping every one who bought a Farrari for "compensation" with his massive tool and Mary comes along crayon in hand and Makes it all yesterdays news.
I'd hope so, but he is also a Soviet Ally, and them needing a win after the entire debacle that was the Romaninan Revolution may very well have them support Saddam with the same enthusiasm with which they tried to invade Afghanistan in OTL.
I'd hope so, but he is also a Soviet Ally, and them needing a win after the entire debacle that was the Romaninan Revolution may very well have them support Saddam with the same enthusiasm with which they tried to invade Afghanistan in OTL.
Saddam achieved all his desires and is happily digging in while pubicly calling for a cease fire. This war cloudn't have gone better for him, so he should be happy and the Palace should have no tension but joy and pride.
This is what Magoose wrote in PM to make it clear this was hard canon and not me being generous.
"There is a strong condemnation of the chemical attacks by both sides, but Iraq has succeded in all its military and strategic objectives and are now on a defensive posture."
I picture Saddam as a man who considers the situation a stalemate unless he is actively advancing. While he is winning, he is not winning fast enough and upset that the expected international glory is lacking. So yes this is the replacement Ego project. I pushed up his real achievements from late 1980's to early 1980s in light of the better strategic situation and the Star wars Effect.
Eh, not really. Saddam is not a good man and has many flaws as a dictator, but I think for the most part he has some basic self awareness and understanding of the global situation, it's just that a lot of his greatest mistakes were gambling and making the wrong assumptions of other nations. When Iraq got its ass kicked by Iran in OTL 1982, Saddam understood enough that he lost all of his gains and wasn't going to easily come back that he made a ceasfire proposal to Iran for status quo antebellum. Saddam was willing to just let the war end in a draw, if not an Iranian victory for the relatively quick and inexpensive defense of their homeland.
You're kind of thinking that Saddam wants to conquer all of Iran when he doesn't. His primary objectives were to conquer Khuzestan and destablize the Khomeini regime to where they either would be deposed or unable to sponsor a Shi'ite revolution in Iraq. All Iraq wanted territorially was Khuzestan since it's an Arab majority province, it controls half of the waterway that was the estuary for the Tigris and Euphrates to lead into the ocean, gives Iraq coastal ports and territory to access global trade independnetly, produces a ton of oil and lines up with Iraqi historical claims.
Everywhere else in Iran is non-Arab and Shi'ite which is not territory that Saddam wants to annex when he's a Sunni leading a Shi'ite majority nation and his ideology is Arab Nationalism. The other Western provinces Iran holds are western and arid mountainous regions which would be tough to hold and hold no value, or hold people Saddam views as undesirable like the Kurds. Saddam never had the capacity to march to Tehran and it was never his intention to take over the capitol. As for his second objective, Khomeini's regime is weak and built on a house of cards with more Iranians turning against him so that's the second objective done.
As for international glory and prestige, he's already got that in spades. The Arab world loves Saddam because he's marching against the historical enemy and he's "liberating" Arab peoples, something no other dictator on his level could do before. He's defeating Iran in open battle, a military supplied by American hardware so in a way he's showing the world Iraqi ingenuity beats American tech. Iraq hasn't been punished for its crimes and its still rich with oil exports. Dude's got tons of international glory and ego to spare. If he actually wants something prestigous and productive, a better use of money and resources would be the Mosul Dam.
It is a bit out there but Saddam's interest in space? Sources are minimal but there does appear to be a brief period where he was actually interested. To the point that several satellites were built. Combine that interest with the bonuses for Star Wars and space and I picture him being persuaded to build a giant cannon.
As to him having a practical superweapon? It's a threat on par with the Paris gun. More psychological than militarily use. The structures are all but immobile and even if they could be easily moved the launch having the power of a small nuke going off means that they are quickly findable on launch.
Secondly, and I hinted it in the text, Barrel erosion. This is a significant problem with really big guns is containing the vast pressures and the sheer speed the payload goes past. This wears down the barrel fast enough that the Paris gun, a smaller weapon , needed to have shells made in progressively larger sizes so to compensate and even then the barrel had to be replaced every 65 shells. Better metallurgy helps but only to a point. Saddam is going to lay a lot of extra pipelines but if he was going to anyway he may as well make a lot of money and prestige out of launching things into space with the pipe first.
Finally why didn't somebody else do it first? Well Bull was working on Project HARP before funding was diverted due to the Vietnam war. Its less Saddam developed it and more he's stolen the US's homework. they have Baby Babylon working as he did in 1989 but big Babylon is still unfinished.
After reading the articles you linked and doing some minor research, I guess from a point of view it makes sense given all the butterflies and Star Wars being a dominant cultural force here. From first reading it seemed more like a cliche dictator gets mad scientist and creates a superweapon to conquer the world. I guess I could see Sadam working on this to hype up Iraqi prestige in peacetime and find dual purpose innovations to further his military. Don't think it would make nearly as much progress as fast as what you described, and he might not start until some form of peace is made with Iran as the fighting is still ongoing and I imagine that Saddam still has to invest billions in Khuzestan's defense to keep the province from Iranian waves eager to take it back.
Giving any kind of advantage to Saddam, even if only as a bluff, really rankles on me. Still, at least it doesn't make him more dangerous than he already is.
Sorry that I kind of started this. My purpose for the original post and recent omake was to get a firm idea for how the Middle East was going to shake up. Half of the Middle East's geopolitical frame and effects on the world are linked to Iraq-Iran and the other half is thanks to the Soviet War in Afghanistan which caused the domino fall that lead to the War on Terror. We already erased Afghanistan, so I wanted to understand how this would turn out and how it would affect the region, America and the greater world.
Throughout the Quest, I kind of want to get a feel for how world history is changed due to our butterflies as that will vastly affect what kinds of movies we make since this is no longer a purely pop culture TL. There are now dozens, if not hundreds of fictional works heavily influenced or created in response to the War on Terror that now are heavily altered and don't exist. Let's not forget how the Romanian War is going to have its own genre of fictional stories across all mediums in relation to it along with historical works.
The intention was never to upgrade Saddam, but more see how Romania changes things. Saddam just happened to benefit because Romania showed the weaknesses and failures that a modern aggressor can undertake, Saddam built his military on Soviet surplus so he saw where they fucked up, and he had some time to transition his Army to a legit conventional fighting force that it could have become if Kuwait didn't happen. Also the Soviets in the aftermath of the clusterfuck that was Romania, really need a W and Iran-Iraq gives them opportunities they no longer have thanks to a collapsed Afghanistan.
If it's any consolation, I did want to write an omake down the line how US detente with Vietnam lead to Pol Pot being captured in '81 or '82 and ending the war in Cambodia years early.
If it's any consolation, I did want to write an omake down the line how US detente with Vietnam lead to Pol Pot being captured in '81 or '82 and ending the war in Cambodia years early
