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’.
346