The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
724.
The official
wrote that the UK had:
•
“over‑promised
and under‑delivered”;
•
“sent the
wrong people and not enough of them”; and
•
“fixated on
strategies that gather dust”, gaining a reputation with the US
“for
procrastination
rather than delivery”.
725.
The official
wrote that there were “a lot of lessons to be learnt” and that
the
absence of
Home Office officials from the addressee list “tells its own
story”.
726.
On 7 August, a
junior official from the British Embassy Office Basra circulated
a
draft of a
policing transition paper.661
He wrote
that “the level of micro‑management”
had “at
times almost beggared belief” but that the police team in Basra had
remained
committed
to making it work “if only so the police here can get on with
implementing it,
rather than
sitting around re‑editing it all day!”
727.
The final
version of the document was circulated on 7 September and is
discussed
later in
this Section.662
Training
for IPS officers took two forms:
•
Basic Recruit
Training was for personnel with no previous police or
military
experience.
That took eight weeks, increasing to ten weeks in
mid‑2005.
•
Transition
Integration Programme was a three‑week programme for
personnel
with
previous police or military experience.663
In July
2006, TIP training was
offered to
serving officers who had not been trained but had been serving
for
Training
took place at the Jordan International Police Training College
(JIPTC), the
Baghdad
Police College and seven smaller regional academies; including
az‑Zubayr near
Basra.665
By the end
of 2006 all regional Iraqi Police academies had transitioned to
Iraqi
control.666
Basic
recruit training ceased at JIPTC at the end of February
2007.667
Leadership
training began in 2006 with the Bagdad Police College running
police officer
commissioning
courses.668
661
Email FCO
[junior official] to FCO [junior official], 7 August 2005,
‘Policing Transition Paper: final draft?’.
662
Letter FCO
[junior official] to OD Sec, Cabinet Office [junior official], 7
September 2005, ‘Iraqi Police
Service
Transition Plan for Southern Iraq attaching Paper Consulate Basra,
7 September 2005, ‘Southern
Iraq: Iraqi
Police Service – Transitional Plan’.
663
Report to
Congress, 13 October 2005, Measuring
Stability and Security in Iraq.
664
Report to
Congress, 29 August 2006, Measuring
Stability and Security in Iraq.
665
Report to
Congress, 13 October 2005, Measuring
Stability and Security in Iraq.
666
Report to
Congress, 2 March 2007, Measuring
Stability and Security in Iraq.
667
Report to
Congress, 7 June 2007, Measuring
Stability and Security in Iraq.
668
Report to
Congress, 17 February 2006, Measuring
Stability and Security in Iraq.
218