12.1 |
Security Sector Reform
The next
proposal, in September, was for a training college in Jordan which
the CPA
considered
could be made ready by November 2003.219
That
facility would provide training
for 35,000
Iraqi police recruits in a series of eight‑week training courses,
each taking
1,500
students.
Training of
new recruits began in Jordan on 29 November with 36 UK police
officers
(a third
of the training staff).220
A further
40 UK officers were “on standby to join the …
project as
it expands”. It was highlighted that: “Construction is behind
schedule and
conditions
poor.”
The first
recruits to pass through the Jordan facility were existing recruits
who had been
going
through police training at the point of the
invasion.221
Former DCC
Brand described
the course
as “very, very basic”.
Plans also
progressed for police training inside Iraq. As mentioned in the
CPA’s May
assessment
of policing in Iraq, there were plans to open academies in Basra,
Baghdad
and the
North of the country.
Plans for
an academy near Basra were initiated by the military and then taken
on by DCC
Stephen
White, Senior Police Adviser and Director of Law and Order for
CPA(South).
The academy
was to be known as the Regional Police Training Academy (RPTA)
and
located at
az‑Zubayr, near Basra.
The Baghdad
facility was run by a UK Chief Inspector and staffed by US military
police.222
265.
On 23 June,
Mr Slocombe announced the formation of the New Iraqi Army
(NIA).223
The plans
for the NIA included:
“•
To have a
full division equivalent of 12,000 soldiers, who would be trained
and
operational
in one year. By two years to have three divisions of 40,000
soldiers.
•
To deploy
battalions as they are trained, under the command of Iraqi
officers.
•
The
military missions of the units will include protecting the nation’s
borders,
provide
military level security for certain routes and installations, help
clear
mines and
UXO [unexploded ordnance].”
266.
On 18 August,
Ambassador Bremer signed CPA Order No.22, which set out
the
mission and
role of the NIA.224
It was to
be responsible for:
“… the
military defense of the nation, including defense of the national
territory and
the
military protection of the security of critical installations,
facilities, infrastructure,
lines of
communication and supply, and population.”
219 Annotated
Agenda, 18 September 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
220
Letter Owen
to Rycroft, 18 December 2003, ‘UK Contribution to Iraqi Police
Training’.
221
Public
hearing Brand, 29 June 2010, pages 62‑65.
222
Letter
Sinclair to Sheinwald, 17 October 2003, ‘Iraq: Security and
Policing’; Letter Owen to Rycroft,
18 December
2003, ‘UK Contribution to Iraqi Police Training’.
223
Coalition
Provisional Authority Press Release No. 006, 23 June 2003,
Good news
for Iraqi soldiers.
224
Coalition
Provisional Authority Order Number 22: Creation of a New Iraqi
Army.
115