Were the U.S. and the British military at odds on tactics?
The U.S. military and the British are always at odds on tactics. I think this goes back to the Revolutionary War. I saw this in Bosnia. You saw it in Iraq. Whatever the U.S. military is doing, the British will tell you probably they could have done it more cleverly, more carefully, more thoughtfully, with less damaged china. … [But] it took the Brits forever to take Basra. On the other hand, Basra has been much quieter than Baghdad’s been. Even though there are all the Shiites, Basra does have a substantial Sunni population. It’s [like] soccer and football: different approaches, different ways of thinking. Did the folks that you were talking to when you were over there think the Brits were moving too slowly? Did people talk about that? I think there was a bit of puzzlement as to why it was taking the Brits so long to take Basra. At the same time, it was sort of, “Hey, it’s their show, their approach.” The U.S. military understands this well, because the Marines and the Army frequentl
