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General: Amateurs ran post-conflict Iraq

LONDON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Inexperienced officials were put in charge of post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq at the expense of lives and treasure, a London war inquiry heard.

British Lt. Gen. Federick Viggers, the top British military representative in Iraq in 2003, told a London inquiry into the Iraq war on Wednesday that British planners were not prepared for the swift overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, London's Telegraph newspaper reports.

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"That was a stunning military operation but in so doing it took everyone by surprise," he said. "We suffered from a lack of any real understanding of the state of that country post-invasion."

He blamed what he called the "intellectual horsepower" for a lack of coordination, which he further stressed could jeopardize military and reconstruction plans for Afghanistan.

"We have not really progressed at the strategic level," he added.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown ordered an investigation into the role London played in the planning stages for the Iraq war beginning in 2001 to when British forces ended their mission there earlier this year.

Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair are scheduled to appear before the inquiry in early 2010. The findings of the investigation are expected by late 2010 or early 2011.

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