The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
780.
Dr Reid,
who chaired the meeting, concluded that it was “critical” to the
UK’s
objectives
that the Iraqi security forces were non‑sectarian; officials
“should work
urgently on
an action plan and messages for use with the US … and an
incoming
Iraqi Government”.
781.
On 20 April,
an email from Mr Straw’s Private Secretary to a junior FCO
official
stated that
Ms Clwyd had raised the delayed publication of the Iraqi
investigation’s
report with
Mr Straw that morning: “She asked what we could do to force
the publication
782.
A junior
official in Baghdad relayed a telephone conversation between
Ms Clwyd
and
Mr Patey.730
Mr Patey
said:
•
Mr Shaways
had passed Mr Patey a copy of the report on 19
April.
•
The report
was consistent with the US report but was “not as hard‑hitting
in
implicating
those involved”.
•
It had been
sent to Prime Minister Ja’afari but was only signed by
Mr Shaways
(and not
other members of the committee).
•
There was
no indication that it would be released or acted upon until
a
government
was formed, after which recommendations could be made
public.
•
The report
would not damage Mr Ja’afari but “would be seen as an attack
on
SCIRI”.
783.
Mr Patey
also said that other work was in hand on detainee abuse: the
bunker
was closed,
spot‑inspections continued, and the UK was working to remove
SCIRI’s
influence
on the MOI. It wanted to stop the MOI running detention facilities
in the longer
term.
Ms Clwyd “seemed broadly content with this
explanation”.
784.
On 5 May 2006,
Mrs Margaret Beckett became Foreign Secretary. On 9 June,
an
IPU
official advised her that “serious abuse and torture”, including of
juveniles, had been
discovered
at another detention facility (“Site 4”) on 30 May.731
Mr Khalilzad
had taken
“swift
action” with the newly elected Prime Minister, Mr Nuri
al‑Maliki, “pressing him to
take public
action” and to revisit the Jadiriyah bunker incident.
Mr Al‑Mailki’s response
was
“positive”; he committed to establishing a committee to investigate
the Site 4
incident.
785.
On 19
September, an eGram from Mr Dominic Asquith, now British
Ambassador
to Iraq,
reported that investigations into Jadiriyah and Site 4 abuse were
still ongoing.732
He had met
Mr Hashim Al‑Shibli, Iraqi Minister of Justice, the previous
day, who had
729
Email
Private Secretary/SofS [FCO] to FCO [junior official], 20 April
2006, ‘Clwyd: MoI Bunker’.
730
Email FCO
[junior official] to FCO [junior official], 20 April 2006, ‘Clwyd:
MoI Bunker’.
731
Minute FCO
[junior official] to Foreign Secretary, 9 June 2006, ‘Torture at an
Iraqi Ministry of Interior
Detention
Facility’.
732
eGram
40974/06, Baghdad to FCO, 19 September 2006, ‘Iraq: Investigations
in HR abuses at Site 4
and
Jadriyah’.
232