Were U.S. and British military at odds on tactics?
The British, of course, worked a very different way with Basra than we were working. There were some reported differences of opinion between the Americans and the British over what to do in Basra. The British were clearly willing to wait it out — kind of a war of attrition. It was different from the approach that the Americans were taking with their swift and surprising advance. I don’t know how severe the tensions were. There were some reports at one point that the Americans had threatened to simply go in and do it themselves if the British wouldn’t do it. In the end, it worked out; Basra fell. And in the postwar period, the British were able to pacify Basra very successfully. Were the British more successful in mitigating civilian casualties? I think it’s hard to know whether it was the British tactics that were more successful in mitigating civilian casualties or the conditions on the ground in Basra. But it’s clear that, in the aftermath of the war, the British were able, for almo
