The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
493.
DCC White’s
role changed again on arrival in Basra where he found
himself
expected to
assume the role of CPA Director of Security (Law and Order),
encompassing
not just
security and policing but all other aspects of criminal justice.
That was a
much
broader role than anticipated. He had one lawyer to support the
work on judicial
494.
Describing how
he was briefed by the military on their future plans, Former
ACC
White told
the Inquiry:
“[I] was
impressed with the comprehensiveness of the plan but somewhat
surprised
that [I]
had not been told of it back in the UK.”439
495.
Former ACC
White told the Inquiry that he was viewed by the military in
MND(SE)
as “their
relief – from all law and order reform duties – not just police
reform. This
expectation
was … the cause of much tension throughout my tour of
duty”.
496.
Former ACC
White explained: “The army were trying to move away from
policing
duties.
They wanted us [police secondees] to move in and we weren’t
there.”440
497.
Former ACC
White described a confused strategic picture:
“I was
being told that a strategy was still being written and therefore
not
promulgated.
However, I was also told there were advanced plans – e.g. for
training
in Hungary
with agreed curricula. Later in Baghdad I saw a Bosnia police
training
curricula
with the word Bosnia struck out and Iraq written on it. I was being
told at
one time
the IPTF [International Police Training Force] for which I had been
recruited
as
commander would be unlikely, yet the man in charge of MOI and
policing in
Iraq was
telling me directly I would have 1,500 officers, with executive
authority, to
command in
the South.”441
498.
In August, DCC
White produced a ‘Strategic Report on the Police
Reform
Programme
in Southern Iraq’ in which he assessed that 91 international police
officers
would be
required to support the policing mission within MND(SE), of whom 70
would
work with
the Iraqi police and 21 would operate within the training
school.442
In
addition
to those,
following the UK military decision to withdraw the four RMP
personnel who had
been
working as part of DCC White’s team and providing force protection
for the UK
police, he
estimated that a team of 48 would be required to provide force
protection.
438
Public
hearing, 21 July 2010, page 16.
439
Statement,
20 June 2010, page 11.
440
Public
hearing, 21 July 2010, page 23.
441
Statement,
20 June 2010, page 16.
442
Report
Elder for White to MacIntosh, 26 August 2003, ‘Report on‑UK CIVPOL
Support to CPA South’;
Statement
White, 20 June 2010, pages 44‑46.
164