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Got some PC time so thought I would check what you wrote and reply I am replying only to you because as a Military man even if what I say goes against your Political leanings you cannot deny my military logic.

Ok the roll with the punches thing my reply is grandmother and suck eggs like teach..

I am not sure if you grasp what my complaint with rummy is.

Here goes as a military man you will know all offensive actions break down into 5 phases. 1) Movement

2) Softening up

3) The Attack

4) Consolidation

5) Next phase

Whether you are taking a position or a country. Rumsfeld squashed all phase 4 planning. It being that we were to withdraw once Saddam was toppled the reason being that Iraq would welcome his demise and build a new democratic country.

This in my book was a major mistake. In any country yours or mine if you topple a system or a system breaks down as in Katrina you get a breakdown of law and order.

Iraq not the most stable country reacted the way intelligence predicted it would.

You also said no plan survives first contact with the enemy that is carved on my backside that is what contingency plans are for. Except we didn’t have a plan and we didn’t have a contingency plan.

We had a window of opportunity to put a phase 4 plan into action; I have had experience of phase 4 operations in both Bosnia Kosovo and Sierra Leone. One experience I have gained is work through the local police and Army units.

A major mistake was disarming all the Iraqi Army units many would have worked for us. Instead we disbanded them and many took there talents elsewhere.

Any civilians Phase 4 is

Pacification

Stabilisation

Normalisation

Will look in again next time i get PC time