Brit's memo: US tactics 'heavy handed'

That is very interesting, BBB.

Blair is in a difficult position.

I imagine he undermines his own position if he is openly critical of his coalition partner - (having welded their fortunes together in the way he has) - but also undermines his political position if he is not.

Given the vagaries of human psychology, I would suggest that he is actually more likely to be able to affect Bush's behaviour in Iraq in a reasonable direction if the advice to soften the tactics etc is done privately - I would suspect that public criticism is more likely to act to cement American behaviour in Iraq - so, if the British estimate is correct (and they DID run a successful empire for quite a time - except for losing the US! - though whether the skills learned have survived the loss of the empire is another question) tactically I would support Blair's attempts to keep criticisms private. We all have a big investment in a successful transition to stable government in Iraq, after all!

But - I guess the cat is out of the bag now....I wonder who leaked????