He added: "We want a stable Iraq and as much as possible of their armed forces in one piece. We do not want to destroy every large tank of the Republican Guard."
British military officials say they will rely on the help of existing Iraqi forces to maintain law and order in a post-Saddam Iraq.
Military sources paint a picture of "British brigadiers alongside Iraqi brigadiers", after the "implosion of the regime," as one put it.
The last, perhaps the most important, part of that transformation came when the CIA became convinced on Wednesday that it had tracked down Saddam Hussein to a building in southern Baghdad. The decision to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles and stealth bombers turned the military plans on their head.
The Iraqis responded by burning oilfields near Basra and lobbing missiles at the coalition forces in Kuwait. The decision was made to send the British and US Marines into battle 24 hours earlier than scheduled, in an offensive on Basra and the oilfields. Consequently, the ground war got off to a staggered, almost gradual, beginning. It was a long way from the Powell doctrine.
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