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The Report of the Iraq Inquiry
1252.  In his evidence to the Inquiry, Major General Jonathan Shaw, GOC MND(SE)
from January to August 2007, said that Op SALAMANCA was altered “because of
resistance within the Shia polity”.1166 In practice, that meant:
“… a lot of the kinetic element that had been intended in SALAMANCA was taken
out. It continued under another guise, if you like, and that just showed an early sign
that … you had to work within the tolerances of the Shia polity, and that became
particularly apparent where anyone in MNF tackled a Shia problem.”
1253.  Following a meeting of the Security Committee in mid‑September, the name of
the operation was changed to Operation SINBAD.1167
1254.  In his evidence to the Inquiry, Lt Gen Shirreff described how Op SINBAD was
undertaken.1168 “Relatively soft areas” were selected, a surge of force was used to
secure the area, and teams were then put into police stations. Those teams went
“through the police stations with a fine‑toothed comb” to establish their state. The
UK had not visited many of the stations for six months, following the Jameat incident
described earlier in this Section.
1255.  Lt Gen Shirreff continued:
“We surged police training teams in, Royal Military Police and contract policemen
from elsewhere.”
1256.  ACM Stirrup visited Iraq from 24 to 26 September and wrote to Mr Browne on
the day after his return to give him “an early feel” for some of his conclusions.1169 He
considered that “the proposals for cleaning up individual police stations and culling/
retraining the force are good” but would have no long‑term impact unless the “killers”
in the SCU were dealt with.
1257.  Maj Gen Shirreff reported on 28 September that Op SINBAD had begun, and that
initial operations had gone exceptionally well:
“What made a particular impact was the very evident Iraqi face on the operation,
both in the form of Iraqi sappers1170 working alongside British sappers and Iraqi Army
security patrols on the streets alongside MNF.”1171
1166  Public hearing, 11 January 2010, page 6.
1167  Minute Shirreff, 21 September 2006, ‘GOC MND(SE) – Southern Iraq Update – 21 September 2006’.
1168  Public hearing, 11 January 2010, pages 19‑20.
1169  Minute CDS to SofS [MOD], 27 September 2006, ‘CDS Visit to Iraq 24‑26 Sep 06’.
1170  Sappers are soldiers who perform a variety of military engineering duties including bridge‑building,
clearing minefields and demolitions.
1171  Minute Shirreff, 28 September 2006, ‘GOC MND(SE) – Southern Iraq Update – 28 September 2006’.
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