12.1 |
Security Sector Reform
(detailed
further below).792
The press
lines annexed to the document explained that
Prime
Minister Allawi had “made a direct call for assistance to
No.10”:
“The Prime
Minister is keen to assist, not least as the speedy Iraqiisation of
the
security
sector is a key strategic aim of the UK and will ultimately
facilitate our own
withdrawal.”
835.
Between
November 2004 and July 2005, equipment was delivered to the ISF
in
four
tranches through “Project OSIRIS”. Over that period, minutes from
MOD officials to
the Defence
Secretary detailed what would be provided in each
tranche:
•
Tranche one
for £15m was approved in early December and focused on
items
that could
be procured quickly through existing contracts, such as small
arms,
ammunition,
public order and urban operations equipment as well as
seven
infrastructure
projects.793
•
Tranche two
for £3.6m was approved in mid‑December and comprised
grenade
launchers,
pistols, radios and ammunition. That was to be procured through
both
new and
existing contracts.794
•
Tranche
three for £6.2m was approved in late January and consisted of
three
batches of
equipment covering protective vehicles, search equipment for
DBE
•
Approval
for tranche four covering the remaining £15.6m was not sought
until
18 July
“because of the need to align expenditure plans with the
planning
for
operational transition” and “changing US expenditure plans”. It
included
infrastructure
projects, vehicles and communications equipment.796
836.
Parliamentary
approval was sought for the first three tranches but the obligation
to
give
Parliament 14 days to raise any objections to
gifting797
the items
was reduced to two
days with
Treasury approval. Tranche four was approved by the Chairman of the
Public
Accounts
Committee (PAC), who had authority to grant approval, given the
imminence
of
Parliamentary recess.
792
Minute MOD
[junior official] to APS/SofS [MOD], 24 November 2004,
‘Parliamentary Clearances for
Gifting of
the First Phase of the £40.6 million ($73m) Worth of Equipment for
Iraqi Security Forces.’
793
Minute MOD
[junior official] to APS/SofS [MOD], 24 November 2004,
‘Parliamentary Clearances for
Gifting of
the First Phase of the £40.6 million ($73m) Worth of Equipment for
Iraqi Security Forces’; Minute
Johnson to
DJC Sec 1, 2 December, ‘Iraq: Gifting of Military Equipment to the
Iraqi Interim Government’.
794
Minute MOD
[junior official] to PS/SofS [MOD], 13 December 2004, ‘Iraq:
2nd
phase of
£40.6m Gifting of
Military
Equipment to the Iraqi Interim Government: Project
OSIRIS’.
795
Minute MOD
[junior official] to PS/SofS [MOD], 19 January 2005, ‘Iraq:
3rd
Phase of
£40.6m Gifting
of Military
Equipment to the Iraqi Interim Government: Project OSIRIS’; Minute
Naworynsky to Deputy
Command
Secretary PJHQ [MOD], 24 January 2005, ‘Iraq: 3rd
Phase of
£40.6m Gifting of Military
Equipment
to the Iraqi Interim Government: Project OSIRIS’.
796
Minute MOD
[junior official] to APS/SofS [MOD], 18 July 2005, ‘Iraq: Funding
for Security Sector
Reform and
a Civil Effects Fund for MND(SE)’.
797
‘Gifting’
is a technical term that usually describes a government giving
equipment to another
government.
245