I'm with the other commenter here who said the British military did what was asked of them. Or maybe better said they did what they could with one hand tied behind their back. The British Army didn't damage its reputation. British politics did. I've read these pages for the last 4 years or so. And whenever the politicians mentioned the Army in Iraq ir Afghansistan I got the impression that the whole thing was a nuisance to them. Like they were having to deal with some wayward relative. I applaud the British Army. I can't the British Gov't. Because now American lives will be lost retaking this place. And make no mistake about it...thats whats going to have to happen.

Murph, Madisonville, USA/KY

Our political and military errors can be summarised as the following:-

-lack of determination to get the job done. Guess what, our failures will not be blamed on "Bush", they will be blamed on us. The US forces have clearly never lacked determination to win, but the pathetic utterances of senior Army officers from Dannatt down make you wonder how the hell anyone in Basra got up in the morning
-an ultra PC attitude to nation building where insistence on such basic norms as adherence to democratic norms in new institutions is to be considered judgemental rather than essential
-We really need to stop grandly declaring we're so much better than those "dumb yanks". The US may have made a lot of errors, but they have adapted and improved. We quite obviously have not

Rupert Fiennes, London,

Strategically on a Geo regional level the coalition needed 500000 troops and that was to cover the post planning emphasis as well as the counter Iranian influence in the region. This invasion lite was a monumental blunder. There was no strategic leadership from the UN to plan for the 2.5 million refugees and neither were there adequate fiscal resources for the reconstruction effort. Why not give the Iraqi tools and construction equipment to rebuild their country?
The Iranians have funded and supplied the insurgents and the spread of the secular governance is where this mission became lost. Surely there must have been strategic Generals that knew what the Iranians were like in the region and that they would meddle to no ends in Iraq. The oversight of the Mullahs and radicals from Iran and beyond into the post planning emphasis has been nothing but a Geo regional strategic blunder. Thus you could not invade Iraq without having considered the same for Iran or you walk into trouble.

The Director, LONDON, England

Sir,
The longstanding reputation of the British Armed Forces was sacrificed to the politically expedient opportunism of the Brit-Cons, led by the great Atlanticist himself, Mr Blair.

We should not let blind adherance to ideological fanaticism cloud OUR judgement and ignore our national interests. A specific example of this type of dogmatic behaviour in action was the "Invasion-lite" approach.

With the continued challenges ahead, let us return to our traditional measured pragmatism, and not get carried away by the Brit-Con's naive exuberance.

SC, London, United Kingdom

Is this the same Colonel Collins who was had up in court by an American traffic policeman on charges of brutality?

Ray, Dartmouth,

Colonel is right. British are supposed to either win, or at least make the locals feel happy about Britain. None is that was achieved in Iraq. We failed to beat armed militants. And we failed to win hearts and minds of population under our occupation. In fact, the reverse of these things took place. The Sadr fighters bombed us until we retreated from palace and ran under the cover of darkness to the airport. And we left the local people of Basra city resentful towards Britain. They hate us now more than before we invaded their city on the orders of the American government. Today our honour is lost. We are being mocked around the world. This should never be allowed to happen again.

John, London, UK

98-minute video ?!?!?

Dear gods, just show people in Gitmo that. That sounds like true torture if anything does.

I mean, how many different ways can you say "kill westerners" and "all hail Osama"? At most, I can come up with 10 minutes of stuff to talk about.

No wonder these people are blowing themselves up. I would if it ensured I never had to watch another video.

Flavius Iulianus, Redmond, WA

If the Army leadership had concentrated on Iraq and Afghanistan instead of trying to prepare for the next euro-war (Future Rapid Effects System and European Rapid Reaction Force) the outcome might have been different. The equipment for COIN (counter insurgency) is not what is required for a high-pyrotechnic euro war.

The British Prime-Minister needs to be more like Abraham Lincoln who kept changing his generals until he got the right ones for victory (U.S. Grant and William Shermann).

A. Osborne, Hastings, England

"Muddled thinking and lack of planning and over-optimism..."

That sums up the entire exercise quite well, however, why is he blaming the British military for this?

Robert Miller, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Sorry, my last post did not come out quite right...

The British military did what was asked of them.... In my opinion, it is not "the UK's military reputation" that is "badly damaged..."

When one is asked to do too much with too little for too long, one can only do the best job that one can do...

British politicos, on the other hand? Now, that's a different story...

Robert Miller, Halifax, NS, Canada