The report by the Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, on the Omagh bombing almost takes one's breath away. Certainly there is no doubting that it struck hard into the solar plexus of Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
People in the North know all about the violence of the Troubles, but they are not accustomed to such high-powered establishment figures verbally battling in such a no-holds-barred fashion.
Can Sir Ronnie and Mrs O'Loan survive this epic clash, and perhaps more importantly can the body politic emerge relatively unscathed from this power struggle?
A "so-called" independent investigation, was how Sir Ronnie dismissively labelled the Ombudsman's report. It was "gross", "sweeping in its conclusions", "it lacked rigour", and was "astoundingly ignorant". Some of the criticism appeared to be "personal".
And neither was Mrs O'Loan a woman to mince her words.
"I have concluded with great sadness that the judgment and leadership of the Chief Constable and the Assistant Chief Constable, Crime, was seriously flawed, and that as a result of that the chances of detaining and convicting the Omagh bombers have been seriously reduced," she said.
Such is the bitterness of this very public dispute between Mrs O'Loan and Sir Ronnie n that it would seem inevitable that when combat is over there will be one or more fatalities.
Journalists were genuinely taken aback by the ferocity of the engagement yesterday. The Press Association editor in Belfast, Deric Henderson, said the last time he remembered such a quarrel was 20 years ago when the Manchester police head, Mr John Stalker, and the RUC chief, Sir John Hermon, slugged it out over allegations of an RUC shoot-to-kill policy.
Talk of resignations may appear academic when it comes to Sir Ronnie as he has already announced he is leaving the PSNI in about three months.
And one naturally wonders was his decision to recently announce his post-dated resignation a pre-emptive strike to make clear that when he does go it will not be because of the Omagh affair, or at the behest of Mrs O'Loan.
He wants to leave the force with honour intact. And be assured that come springtime the Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, also wants him walking out of the door of police headquarters with head held high.
After all, when others might have baulked, Sir Ronnie, head of the RUC, with fair enthusiasm ushered in the new police service that the British and Irish governments, and most everyone else, hopes will win the support of nationalists and unionists.
Sir Ronnie is owed by the British government. Dr Reid knows that.
Yesterday, however, the question that naturally arose was: will Mrs O'Loan's damning report - and it was truly damning - shorten the Chief Constable's period of notice? If Dr Reid doesn't publicly support Mrs O'Loan will she be tempted to hand in her notice? She was confident it wouldn't come to that.
Dr Reid last night wasn't committing himself either way.
This report must be studied carefully, was the safe and bland option that he pursued. He said he regretted the acrimony of the last 11 days. That will hardly persuade Mrs O'Loan that she enjoyed his full support.
Reading between the lines Dr Reid appeared to see an arbitration role for the Policing Board in this wrangle.
Amazingly, the board yesterday proved it indeed has some Solomon-like ability by, utterly against the odds, agreeing a police badge for the PSNI.
So, perhaps down the line when some of the venom has been drawn from this clash it may have a conciliatory role to play.
And as regards last week's leaking of Mrs O'Loan's draft report, she said the Press Association, which broke that story, had acknowledged that the breach of confidence did not come from her or her office.
That leaves either the Northern Ireland Office or the PSNI.
Mrs O'Loan effectively followed the dictum of the great newspaper editor C.P. Scott yesterday that "comment is free, but facts are sacred".
She was dealing in facts, and the facts illustrated that the RUC from its highest level through to its Special Branch in particular bungled the Omagh investigation.
This is serious and sensitive business. The "Real IRA" blast of August 1998 killed 29 people, including a woman due to give birth to twin girls. Hers wasn't a personal attack on the RUC or Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Mrs O'Loan argued, but rather a professional and necessary attempt to try to get to the bottom of how the RUC handled the investigation. She was acting in the service of the families and of policing itself.
Against criticism from Sir Ronnie she defended the integrity and competence of her team of investigators led by London Metropolitan Police Commander David Wood.
Her allegations were serious and wide-ranging.
In summary her report touched on Sir Ronnie Flanagan saying that "no stone would be left unturned" in bringing the Omagh bombers to justice.
But her opinion was that very many stones remained to be kicked over, and some of them were buried deep in the earth, chiefly by the Special Branch.
Effectively she judged, as contained in the Patten report, that the Special Branch was a force within a force and must be incorporated into the general police service.
She also said Special Branch failed to share vital information with the Omagh bomb investigation team.
Such was the lack of confidence in police handling of the investigation that an independent investigator must be brought in to conduct the Omagh inquiry.
She accused Special Branch of failing to investigate what she viewed as obvious suspects with republican paramilitary backgrounds, and of failing to properly assess the value of tip-offs issued in the days and weeks ahead of the bombing.
Sir Ronnie Flanagan's initial response was to attack the competence of Mrs O'Loan and her team. He didn't deal with the detailed complaints. That will come either before or after Christmas. But he will have his day.