The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
The
disbursement of new equipment should be accelerated.
•
There was a
need to “get a wholesale grip of prisons policy and
prisons
management”.
399.
The paper also
stated that in the lead‑up to the transfer of sovereignty,
Coalition
control
over the shape and form of the ISF would reduce. On incorporating
militias,
the paper
said: “This process needs to be taken forward carefully and
systematically
with a view
to the long‑term cohesiveness of Iraq’s security forces rather than
on an
ad hoc
basis.”
400.
Mr Blair
raised Iraqiisation again in a video conference with President Bush
on
11
May.345
He
questioned the current capability of the ISF, and concluded that a
rolling
programme
for Iraqiisation concentrating not just on numbers but on how to
train, equip
and command
the Iraqi police and ICDC, with the Iraqi Army behind them, was
required.
401.
In a Note to
President Bush on 18 May, Mr Blair described work on
developing the
ISF as
“urgent” and said that nothing should stand in its
way.346
He provided
a paper
from the
MOD and highlighted the need:
•
for more
international police advisers, stating that the current number was
only
50 percent
of that required;
•
for rapid
recruitment of more army battalions;
•
to “fix
pay, equipment and IT problems of the police and civil defence”;
and
•
to bring in
“proper officers” even if they had a Ba’athist
connection.
402.
From 20 to 23
May, a team led by Major General Nicholas Houghton,
Assistant
Chief of
Defence Staff (Operations), and accompanied by CC Kernaghan,
visited Iraq.347
The visit
followed a request from Mr Blair for a UK team to visit Iraq
and provide a report
on what
further action was required to accelerate
Iraqiisation.348
403.
Maj Gen Houghton’s
subsequent report noted the lack of strategy,
“bureaucratic
complexity”
hindering access to funds and resources, “initiative overload” and
a
short‑term
focus.349
However, he
assessed that those mistakes were known in Iraq and
action had
been taken to address them. He further stated:
“The last
thing the theatre needs at the moment is novel thinking imposed
from
outside.
The concept of ‘acceleration’ is misplaced. ‘Sustained Effort’,
with some
change in
emphasis, will produce the desired capability.”
345
Letter
Sheinwald to Adams, 11 May 2004, ‘Iraq: Prime Minister’s Video
Conference with President
Bush, 11
May’.
346
Letter
Sheinwald to Rice, 18 May 2004, [untitled] attaching Note [Blair to
Bush], [undated],
‘Note on Iraq’.
347
Letter
Naworynsky to Rycroft, 13 May 2004, ‘Enhancing Iraqi Security
Forces’; Minute ACDS(Ops)
to Rycroft,
25 May 2004, ‘How Best to Progress the Iraqiisation of the Security
Sector’.
348
Letter
Rycroft to Baker, 11 May 2004, ‘Enhancing Iraqi Security
Forces’.
349
Minute
ACDS(Ops) to Rycroft, 25 May 2004, ‘How Best to Progress the
Iraqiisation of the
Security Sector’.
144