Tales of chaos, by our man in Basra [View All]

[go west young man]

Source: London Times

As the title suggests this is no gentle portrayal. The harrumphs of this seasoned diplomat are audible throughout – and he even admits now that he was tempted to call the book Bugger Basra. “It was more than two years after I came back before I could sit down and write it,” he explains. “I couldn’t have written it before because I was just in such a blind fury.”

The lack of any structure to his mission was anathema to a bureaucrat, while the lack of facilities epitomised the shambolic nature of the postwar planning.

“The biggest mistake was the fundamental one of going in to run a country, having believed people who were telling lies, and base it all on hope rather than on a plan,” he says. “Everything else arose from that.”



Read more: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3465815.ece

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This really should be front page news as it exposes the lack of planning for the war in it's full light. There wasn't any planning.