Iraq war plan flawed - ex-general

The retired general who commanded the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division when its tanks led the charge to Baghdad in 2003 says the initial war planning was flawed and probably contributed to the drawn-out conflict with insurgents in Iraq.

However, retired Major General Buford Blount said today that pulling out “is not an option” for US forces as Iraq’s fledgling democracy tries to re-establish government services and its own military that dissolved following the 2003 invasion.

“The US’s preparedness to take over the country of Iraq, to try to stand it back up basically from scratch, we were not prepared for that level of effort at the beginning,” Blount said at his home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. “And in some way it probably contributed to the development of the insurgency.”

Blount left the Fort Stewart-based 3rd Infantry after its 19,000 troops returned from Iraq in 2003. He retired in January 2005 after a year at the Pentagon as assistant deputy chief of operations for the Army.

He spoke today after giving interviews this week to two newspapers: the Hattiesburg American in his hometown and the Savannah Morning News near Fort Stewart.

“I think we made a lot of mistakes,” Blount told the Hattiesburg newspaper. He told the Savannah newspaper that, while he had supported the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, “Looking back now, it’s clear the plan was flawed.”

“Knowing what we know today, with the deaths we’ve had and lack of stability and challenge the insurrection has caused, there may have been a better way,” Blount said.

He said the US was unprepared to compensate for basic services, such as fire and police departments, that ceased to exist following the invasion. He also criticised the decision to disband the Iraqi army.

“It was a functioning force that could have been greatly used to get the country back together quickly,” Blount said. “Instead, we sent all these young trained soldiers home with no future and no money to support their families, so they were easily recruited by the insurgents.”

Blount, a soft-spoken Southerner, insisted he did not agree with other retired US generals who have recently called for Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign because of his handling of the Iraq war.

“I really don’t want to get lumped in with the other generals,” Blount said. “I fully support us still being there. It’s critical we see this mission through to the finish. Pulling out, to me, is not an option.”

Asked if, in hindsight, President George Bush made the right decision in ordering US troops to invade Iraq, Blount replied: “I don’t think I want to comment on that.”