The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
260.
On 8 July,
Secretary Rumsfeld issued instructions to work up a plan and
develop a
list of
requirements. He stated: “Prime Minister Blair said he agreed and
would get some
help.”
261.
That may be a
reference to a video conference held on 3 July in which
both
Secretary
Rumsfeld and Mr Blair participated. Mr Blair was reported
to have asked
Ambassador
Bremer and Mr Sawers to draw up a list of their requirements,
and said
that the
UK would “do our level best to meet any demand for additional
resources”.214
That
discussion is described in more detail in Section 9.2.
262.
In early
August, Mr Kerik briefed Ambassador Bremer on the requirement
for police
in
Iraq.215
He
estimated that Iraq needed 65,000‑75,000 police officers and said
that it
would take
approximately six years to develop that size of force. Ambassador
Bremer
responded
that it needed to be done in two years and allocated a US$120m
budget from
Iraqi
Government funds.
263.
On 10 August,
DCC Brand reported that the CPA leadership had
acknowledged
that it
would not be possible to attract the 6,600‑strong International
Police Training
Force
originally envisaged in the CPA’s May assessment and that the
aspiration was
264.
Hard
Lessons stated that
the US NSC rejected the original recommendation for
6,000
international police officers:
“… viewing
them as too ambitious and too expensive. Ultimately,
Ambassador
Bremer
requested IRRF 2 [Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund] funding
for
1,500 police
advisors – of whom 1,000 would be American.” 217
One of the
practical challenges facing those delivering the police training
was where it
should be
carried out. Concerns about security within Iraq had led the CPA to
consider
the possibility
of conducting the majority of the training in Hungary, though this
plan failed
214
Letter
Cannon to McDonald, 3 July 2003, ‘Iraq: Prime Minister’s
Video‑Conference with President Bush,
3
July’.
215
Bremer LP
III & McConnell M. My Year in
Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope.
Threshold, 2006.
216
Minute
Brand, 10 August 2003, ‘Report from Iraq – Douglas
Brand’.
217
Bowen SW
Jr. Hard
Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience. U.S.
Government Printing
Office, 2009.
218
Minute, 7
September 2003, ‘Report from Iraq – Douglas Brand’.
114