The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
215.
The IPAT
explained that once applicants had met those minimum
requirements,
they would
be investigated in line with the de‑Ba’athification Order to check
that they
were not
disqualified from employment. Absolute disqualifications would
include:
“•
Former
regime security organisation affiliation (RG [Republican Guard] or
worse);
•
Senior
Ba’ath Party membership;
•
Terrorist
organisation affiliation; or
•
Human
rights violations and crimes against humanity.”
216.
The IPAT did
not provide any details of how the information on which to
make
judgements
about individual cases was to be obtained and evaluated. Nor was
there any
information
about who would make the judgements.
217.
Training
programmes for existing police officers were to comprise an
initial
three‑week
transitional training programme followed by a longer‑term
capacity‑building
programme,
to include monitoring and mentoring, “until an effective, locally
acceptable
police
force is established that incorporates principles of community
policing and full
respect for
the human rights of individuals”.
218.
The IPAT
assessed that that could not be achieved “without significant
international
assistance”
and estimated that “a requisite force” would comprise
6,633168
international
police
advisers, an unspecified number of whom would have executive
powers. Training
sites
should be opened in Baghdad, Basra, al‑Anbar and Northern Iraq.
Those whom the
IPAT had
spoken to as part of its research had “expressed a wish for US and
UK police
as trainers
and supervisors”, though the IPAT was of the opinion that
“consideration
should
obviously be given to a wider pool than this and should also
include consideration
of other
Arab police forces”. There was no detail about how those advisers
would be
sourced.
“… a policy
decision is needed as to the end state of the police … so that
there is
an
overarching vision and focus … Two models are available. One is the
classic
single
national police force with specialised units at the centre and
decentralised
administration.
The second is a police force which reflects a federal
government
structure.”
220.
Former Deputy
Chief Constable (DCC) Douglas Brand, who served as the
UK’s
senior
policing representative in Baghdad from July 2003, told the Inquiry
that he
recalled
seeing the IPAT assessment prior to his deployment and thought that
it was
“high on
aspiration but very low on actual, practical capability … not
least, there wasn’t
a great
deal of understanding of the local culture and
context”.169
168
The report
quotes two figures; 6,663 and 6,633. The Inquiry believes the
latter is the correct figure.
169
Public
hearing, 29 June 2010, pages 11‑13.
106