"What we didn't understand was the lack of resources and priority that would be assigned to our efforts," Timothy Carney, who spent months working with the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq, said in an interview from Washington with the BBC.

"Those military officers simply did not understand or give enough priority to the transition from their military mission to the political military mission," Carney said.

"I'm not aware of any discussion of post-conflict Iraq taking place before November or December of last year," he said, responding to a question on whether Washington had thought through the postwar situation in Iraq.

The United States and Britain, who launched a war against Iraq on the ground that the country's alleged banned weapons pose threat to the international community, have grappled with accusations that they have left Iraq in a state of chaos, months after the United States announced that major military campaign in the Gulf country was over.

(People's Daily June 27, 2003)