"That would have meant deploying troops throughout the country, occupying Baghdad, going after helicopters, airplanes, tanks, artillery," one official said recently.

And what do we do after we have occupied Baghdad?

In the six weeks since American forces occupied Baghdad, Shiite religious men have taken charge of organizing services.

That's not the three weeks it took to occupy Baghdad, but it's pretty good for government work.

The U.S. government was criticised for doing nothing to protect the museum after occupying Baghdad.

The administration has offered many different explanations, some of them mutually contradictory, for its determination to occupy Baghdad.

The available troops were obviously too few to occupy Baghdad properly and control the population.

The agreement with the brothers failed to last, however, and Ahmad occupied Baghdad.

After occupying Baghdad the same year, he sent a small part of his army (8,000 soldiers strong) to occupy Nineveh and its surroundings.

Here are six things I am watching for: (1) Have we occupied Baghdad - without leveling the whole city?