OK Ron, one more time:

"You brought up Bosnia as a model."

Eh, no I didn't Ron, I brought it up as a fact, I brought it up as an example. You converted it by implication into a model, surely you are old enough and wise enough to know that no two situations, in real life, can ever be identical, no solutions are standard, we are talking about life, not mathematics.

"In Bosnia....in Iraq"---you are the one who compares Bosnia to Iraq, inviting us also to do so."

Em, no Ron, as I clearly explained in my previous mail, "In Bosnia it took 15 years... (for the Bosnian Government to work things out to such an extent that the MNF could leave)" That is a statement of fact, supported by both the Bosnian Government and the Commander of EUFOR. "in... Iraq...it...might...take...a...bit....longer." my own stated opinion, nothing more, nothing less Ron. Can you please explain to me why it is that you simply just cannot take anything said at face value?

Oh, by the bye Ron, Yugoslavia, does not enter into the equation, no matter how much you try to drag it in. You now explain to us anything that is incorrect in what I previously pointed out to you:

"Note to Mr.Davies at this point:
Remember you said Ref 2) –" You're right that it has taken about 15 years in Bosnia. But, sorry, o brilliant analyst-- (I wouldn't want to say "clueless Western military fossil"--perish the thought)--it was not Bosnia that broke up."

Let's see Ron, a country that declares Independence on 1st March 1992 and which is recognized internationally on 6th April, 1992, by 1993 had disintegrated to such an extent that 70% of the country was controlled by the Bosnian Serbs while the remaining 30% was being contested by the Bosniacs and the Croats.

Don't know about you Ron, but that looks pretty much like the break-up of a country to me!"

Yugoslavia is your "Red Herring" in this debate Ron, and I am simply just not buying it. Perhaps you can tell us exactly when Yugoslavia started to break up Ron (i.e. ceased to exist) and compare that date to 1st March, 1992.

Now Ron instead of your usual personal attacks and endless repetition of irrelevant twaddle - come up with something concrete to base your rather subjective and highly biased opinions on.