Basra operation points to planning gaps

BAGHDAD, April 3 (UPI) -- Plans presented for the Iraqi military operation in Basra differed from what actually transpired, said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker .

"The sense we had was that this would be a long-term effort: increased pressure gradually squeezing the (Iranian-backed militias)," Crocker said in a New York Times interview. "That is not what kind of emerged."

Crocker said he learned of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's plan to restore order to Basra just before the operation began. Instead of building up combat power and gradually stepping up actions against militias, Iraqi security forces stormed the city before all of the reinforcements arrived.

U.S. President George Bush called the operation a "defining moment," proving that the Iraqi government has the means and will to confront rogue forces. But U.S. military leaders said the offensive demonstrated Maliki overestimated his military's abilities and underestimated the level of resistance, the Times said.

"He went in with a stick and he poked a hornet's nest and the resistance he got was a little bit more than he bargained for," said an official in the multinational force in Baghdad. "They went in with 70 percent of a plan. Sometimes that's enough. This time it wasn't."