Regarding the post- war operations:
The problem is that if we had occupied in force, or acted more aggressively without real intelligence to suppress the resistance, we would have created a much more hostile populace. We would have had to have battered down a lot of doors, and detained a lot of civilians, without much discrimination, as well as appearing to sit on the country with more intent to stay. Unfortunately, by missing Saddam during major operations, and due to a better organized last ditch effort than we anticipated, the situation got very dicey. However, it was always a matter of time to deal with Saddam and others in the leadership of the Ba'athist Party, to develop intelligence assets sufficient to mount a more aggressive, but tailored, response, and to increase the participation of native security personnel in order to show our good faith in planning to turn things over as the situation permitted. Now, the tide is turning, and we should see much more rapid progress in the next few months....... |
