US Iraq occupation criticised in army report
American military commanders did not impose curfews, halt looting or order Iraqis back to work after Saddam Hussein’s regime fell because US policymakers were reluctant to declare American troops an occupying force, according an internal Army review.
As a result, the Bush administration’s first steps at reconstruction in Iraq were severely hampered, creating a power vacuum that others quickly moved to fill, and a growing mistrust on the part of ordinary Iraqis, the report said.
