The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

483.  On 28 November, more than two months after applications were sifted, Mr Straw

wrote to Mr Blunkett formally requesting the deployment of 24 officers to work at the

az‑Zubayr training academy, noting that ACPO was content with the risk assessment.427

484.  Mr Blunkett agreed to that request on 3 December.428

485.  In a letter to No.10 in mid‑December, Mr Straw’s Private Secretary reported that

the 24 additional British officers would arrive at az‑Zubayr that week.429 He also reported

that 36 officers had deployed to Jordan and a further 40 were on standby to join once

capacity had been increased. In addition:

“The UK’s senior input to Iraq policing remains strong. DCC Douglas Brand,

senior police adviser in the CPA is responsible for overall policing strategy and

implementation, and will be in place for a further 6 months. In the South, ACC

Stephen White will be replaced from end January. Both officers’ teams are currently

being strengthened.”

486.  The UK police trainers arrived and training began on 27 December.430 The military

also supplied two lieutenant colonels as members of the project team and 20 trainers

(10 Royal Military Police (RMP) and 10 Carabinieri). Following discussions with the

military and the senior adviser to MOI, Mr Casteel, it was agreed that the military and UK

police officers would share responsibility for training at the az‑Zubayr facility.

487.  By March 2004 there were over 100 UK police officers working on SSR:

• two senior police advisers (DCC Brand in Baghdad and Acting ACC Philip Read

in Basra);

• their support staff of 11, including staff manning the Baghdad joint civil‑military

co‑ordination cell;

• 73 officers in Jordan (eight of whom were retired officers);

• 24 officers at the az‑Zubayr facility;

• the commander of the Baghdad police academy; and

• five PSNI officers in the South.431

488.  Acting Commander Kevin Hurley took over from Acting ACC Read in June 2004

as senior police adviser in Basra and served a seven‑month tour.432 He described the

UK police contingent as “tiny” – about 20 constables and sergeants “conducting very

rudimentary recruit training … in a derelict old barracks near az‑Zubayr” and, based at

427  Letter Straw to Blunkett, 28 November 2003, ‘Iraq: Police Reform: Deployment of UK Police Officers’.

428  Letter Blunkett to Straw, 3 December 2003, ‘Iraqi Police Reform: Deployment of UK Police Officers’.

429  Letter Owen to Rycroft, 18 December 2003, ‘UK Contribution to Iraqi Police Training’.

430  Statement White, 20 June 2010, page 35.

431  Minute FCO [junior official] to Buck, PS/Foreign Secretary, 3 March 2004, ‘Iraq – Contracting of

Police Monitors’.

432  Statement, 17 June 2010, pages 3‑4.

162