12.1 |
Security Sector Reform
700.
On 25
February, Mr Blair wrote a note to his Private Secretary,
instructing that
Mr Straw
be “put in charge” of the AHMGI and that each week a report is
provided
containing
actions on “e.g. reconstruction in the South; Sunni outreach;
progress on
701.
On 10 March,
at the first meeting of the AHMGI under his chairmanship,
Mr Straw
explained
that Mr Blair “had asked a core group of ministers to meet on
a weekly basis
to focus
more closely on the delivery of policy in Iraq”.638
702.
One point made
in discussion was that there was pressure within Iraq
for
some
unofficial militia to be incorporated into the ISF: “The benefits
of bringing them
under
greater control needed to be balanced against risk to ISF cohesion
and political
complications”.
On 21
February 2005, the EU announced that it had decided to establish an
integrated
police and
Rule of Law mission for Iraq, known as ‘EU
JustLex’.639
Mr Straw’s
Private Secretary outlined the main elements of that mission in a
letter to
No.10 on
10 March:
•
a planning
office in Brussels to arrange senior management and
specialist
technical
training for 520 judges and criminal justice officials and 250
senior
police
officers;
•
a five‑man
liaison office in Baghdad to identify specific projects where
EU
member
states could provide assistance;
•
training that
would take place in Member States or the region, but not in
Iraq
until the
security situation had improved.640
Mr Straw’s
Private Secretary wrote that the 21 February package had “followed
months
of internal
deliberations and a tough final negotiation”. While there was a
“more positive
political
mood, opposition to any association with MNF programmes or training
in Iraq
remains
strong”. He stated:
“… the
package as it stands … is modest given the scale of the task and
the
immediacy
of the needs. If all goes to plan over the next year, the EU will
provide
training
for some 250 police officers. During this time, we [MNF] plan to
train over
40,000
policemen through the academies in Baghdad, Basra and
Amman.”
637
Manuscript
comment Blair on minute Quarrey to Prime Minister, 25 February
2005, ‘Iraq Update’.
638
Minutes, 10
March 2005, Ad Hoc Ministerial Group on Iraq meeting.
639
Official
Journal of the European Union, 9 March
2005, Council
Joint Action 2005/190/CFSP of 7 March
2005.
640
Letter
Siddiq to Quarrey, 10 March 2005, ‘Iraq: Policing’.
211