12.1 |
Security Sector Reform
519.
DCC White met
Mr Rammell, Mr Adam
Ingram, Minister for the Armed Forces,
and
Ms Kennedy on 3 November.459
In the
meeting, DCC White stated that his alleged
criticisms
of government strategy were taken out of context but he expressed
concerns
about lack
of progress, the lack of UK police officers on the ground (due in
part he felt
to Chief
Constables blocking deployment for security reasons), differences
between the
UK and the
US approach and the absence of a delegated budget. Mr Rammell
stated:
“My view,
having listened to him, is that he raises serious concerns which
are at
odds with
our statements as to how the situation is improving.”
520.
The Home
Office record of the Iraq Senior Officials Group of 4 November
recorded
that
Mr Straw’s initial reaction to DCC White’s documentary was to
call a “special
meeting of
Ministers to discuss what more could be done” but FCO officials had
advised
that that
was not necessary.460
521.
An update
produced for Mr Straw by the Iraq Security Sector Unit (ISSU)
on
5 November
acknowledged that “there had been delays in late summer” but said
that
these had
now been resolved.461
On the
specific issues about which DCC White had
expressed
concerned, the ISSU observed:
•
risk
assessments – “ACPO require very strict assurances”;
•
budget –
that was “a matter for CPA South and Baghdad”; and
•
the new
accelerated programme for training – “this is far from ideal … the
risks
that flow
from putting large numbers of insufficiently trained police on the
streets
are
clear”.
UK
personnel involved in SSR were the subject of a number of security
incidents between
May 2003
and June 2004:
•
On 24 June
2003, six members of the RMP462
who had been
engaged in the
training of
local Iraqi police forces were killed at Majarr al Kabir, near
Basra (see
Sections
9.2 and 16.3).463
An MOD
Board of Inquiry later concluded that that had
been “a
surprise attack, which could not reasonably have been
predicted”.464
459
Letter
Rammell to Symons, 4 November 2003, ‘Iraq – Stephen
White’.
460
Minute
Storr to Acton, 5 November 2003, ‘Iraq: Senior Officials Meeting on
4 November’.
461
Minute ISSU
[junior official], to PS/SofS [FCO], 4 November 2003, ‘Iraq
Policing’.
462
Sergeant
Simon Hamilton‑Jewell, Corporal Russell Aston, Corporal Paul Long,
Corporal Simon Miller,
Lance
Corporal Benjamin Hyde and Lance Corporal Thomas Keys.
463
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 24 June
2003, column 996.
464
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 17
November 2004, columns 90‑91WS.
169