The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
On 23 August,
three members of the RMP were killed465
and another
seriously
injured in
an attack in central Basra (see Section 9.2).466
Up to five
Iraqis were
also
understood to have been killed or seriously injured.
•
On 19
November, DCC White’s convoy was subject to an Improvised
Explosive
Device
(IED) attack outside the Basra courthouse.467
One of his
protection
officers
was seriously injured.
•
On 22 April
2004, the police training academy at az‑Zubayr was attacked
by
suicide
bombers.468
Although no
UK police were injured in the attack, it led to a
review of
security at the facility. A subsequent Cabinet Office paper
described
the site as
“isolated and exposed” but said that a more permanent and
secure
site would
take time to construct, and would cost between £5m and £10m,
for
which there
was no provision.469
The
facility at az‑Zubayr remained and in June 2004 Mr Hoon
stated:
“The attack
on the facility in April had strengthened the determination of the
Iraqi
recruits
(and their instructors) to deliver an effective police force. An
impressive
522.
The FCO
identified the development of the Iraqi prison service as a
“Priority One”
area for UK
support to ORHA in April 2003.471
523.
Mr Martin
Narey, the Home Office Commissioner for Correctional Services,
wrote
to
Sir Michael Jay, the Permanent Under Secretary to the FCO, on
24 April advising that
he was
seeking potential secondees from the Prison Service to support the
UK effort.472
524.
Prison reform
was also included in the Annotated Agenda for the AHMGIR
on
17 July.473
The Agenda
described the Government’s “continued support to the Iraq
prison
reform
programme” and stated that the IPU considered it “likely … that UK
support
[would] be
requested specifically in training and general prison
management”.
465
Major
Matthew Titchener, Company Sergeant Major Colin Wall and Corporal
Dewi Pritchard.
466
Ministry of
Defence, 23 August 2003, ‘Major Matthew Titchener,
Sergeant Major Colin Wall and
Corporal
Dewi Pritchard Killed in Iraq’.
467
Statement
White, 20 June 2010, pages 33‑34.
468
Note ISSU,
23 April 2004, ‘Security Sector Reform Meeting – Thursday 22 April
2004’.
469
Minute Dodd
to Rycroft, 7 May 2004, ‘Enhancing Iraqi Security
Forces’.
470
Letter
Naworynsky to Owen, 15 June 2004, ‘Secretary of State for Defence
Visit to Iraq –
14 June
2004’.
471
Letter Jay
to Turnbull, 22 April 2003, ‘Iraq: UK Support for the Office for
Reconstruction and
Humanitarian
Assistance (ORHA)’.
472
Letter
Narey to Jay, 24 April 2003, ‘Iraq: UK Support for the Office for
Reconstruction and Humanitarian
Assistance
(ORHA)’.
473 Annotated
Agenda, 17 July 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
170