Anyone fancy a desert war?

Good, let's get back to the desert!

Hardly a week goes by without some landmark being reached in the conquest of Iraq. I say conquest because the war has been over for some time – according to Dubbya and his mate “Big Tone” Blair.

Where is the end? When will we get there? It's not likely that Tone and Dubb have any real idea. That's the truth.

I started arguing about this fiasco even before it was over. It was obvious then that there was no exit strategy. And there wasn't. It's easy, of course, to be wise after the event – I've got 20-20 hindsight and have had for most of my life. Before they go to sleep I'm sure the Muppets (Blair and Bush) probably secretly admit to themselves that they were completely unprepared for what happened after the conquest of Iraq. I'm sure they honestly believed that the ignorant peasants, once they had been freed from the wicked Ba'th party henchmen, would be so grateful to the Anglo-Saxons that they would cheerfully set about modelling a representative democracy. History has proved them idiots.

Whoever advised them – if anyone – should be fired for incompetence.

My plan would have worked. Having taken the decision that Iraq was too dangerous to leave alone, an invasion was not necessarily a bad idea. After the swift and relatively painless victory over the Iraqi forces, US and British forces should have pulled back to the Kuwaiti border to see what happened. Sounds cruel – but with hindsight, this course may have been less costly to both the coalition and the Iraqi people. Certainly without the coalition forces on hand as a target the Iraqi people would have had an opportunity to make their own decisions. But, and this is crucial, with the coalition forces on the border and not directly engaged – except perhaps in the south where the UK forces have been relatively successful – the opportunity to intervene with air power at precise targets and with Special Forces ready to focus the response at the first sign of armed insurgency starting – an opportunity for the Iraqi people to take the lead in the aftermath was lost. And, at what a cost.

Now that politicians of all persuasions are actively seeking a way to end the coalition involvement – this course of action could be, and should be, a viable plan.

Getting bogged down in an urban dog-fight has never been good military planning. Germans, Stalingrad! Need I say more. I think not.