The Pentagon talks about using the press as a tool against Hussein, to give Hussein an incorrect idea of U.S. attack plans. But this conceals that the main aim of military propaganda was to give the impression that the Iraqi army existed at all, to turn the ensuing slaughter into a fight between adversaries. Some who refused to confess were even let go. The object was to demonstrate the police state's ability to destroy the individual. Despite the size of the Iraqi army on paper, Iraq could not fight modern warfare.
Modern warfare is based on a conveyor belt system from factory to front line.
The Iraqi army fell apart quickly because its many weapons were just second-rate gizmos sold by Russia for a quick buck. It had no real war machine since it had no independent economy. Its supply lines were cut by the embargo long before the war began. Saddam, having always been a puppet, was then a puppet with his strings cut. The ground war was launched the day Iraq announced that it would withdraw from Kuwait.