The detail of exchanges between the Government and the US Administration in 2003 remains confidential. Events moved very quickly in the aftermath of the removal of Saddam Hussein and it should be remembered that by the end of the initial hostilities the Iraqi army had effectively dissolved itself—there were no formed units, no equipment and all barracks had been comprehensively looted. At the same time throughout Iraq there was overwhelming popular pressure for de-Ba'athification to begin, reflecting the suffering and resentment among ordinary Iraqis as a consequence of three decades of repression by Saddam Hussein's regime.