The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
989.
The minutes of
the DOP(I) meeting on 3 November recorded:
“… there
was considerable concern … among British police at the prospect of
police
advisers in
Iraq being placed under military command …”918
“Departments,
notably the FCO, MOD and Home Office, should work
together
to agree a
way forward on command and control of the policing effort
…
Paul Kernaghan
should also be consulted.”
991.
The DOP(I)
minutes did not record any discussion of increasing military
resource
or lifting
movement restrictions. See the Box earlier in this Section,
‘Security restrictions
on UK
police officers’, for more detail on civilian security
restrictions.
992.
On 9 November,
Maj Gen Dutton reported that a new Police Strategic
Steering
Group had
met for the first time that week.919
That
brought together the Consul
General,
GOC MND(SE), the Senior Police Adviser and members of the GOC’s
staff.
Maj Gen Dutton
wrote:
“I am
confident that we are now approaching a situation where we can make
best
use of the
different capabilities which the civil police, contractors and my
own
soldiers,
including Royal Military Police, can provide. The Consul General
and I
expect to
set out our proposed solution to London shortly.”
993.
The first
meeting of a new cross‑Whitehall SSR Group920
was held
on
17 November.921
It was
chaired by Mr Howard, reflecting the transfer of
responsibility for
policing to
MOD. The meeting addressed what that transfer meant and the
command
and control
issues in MND(SE). In an email to DCC Smith, CC Kernaghan
summarised:
“Lead
status remains to be defined but no one argued that you were in a
line of
command
relationship with the GOC or that your professional judgement could
be
over‑ruled
by anyone else in theatre.”
994.
In a report
dated 20 November, DCC Smith was critical of military
co‑ordination
with police
in MND(SE):
“Despite
reassurances from London it is quite clear, to myself and senior
CivPol
officers on
the ground in Basra, that the military are initiating changes in
their
relationship
with CivPol. This is unfortunate as it is increasingly becoming
obvious
918
Minutes, 3
November 2005, DOP(I) meeting.
919
Report
Dutton, 9 November 2005, ‘CG MND(SE) – Southern Iraq Update – 9
November 2005’.
920
The
cross‑Whitehall Iraq SSR Group replaced the Security Sector Reform
Meeting.
921
Email
Kernaghan to Smith, 18 November 2005, ‘Cross‑Whitehall Security
Sector Reform [SSR]
Group –
Iraq Inaugural Meeting 17/11/05’.
282