12.1 |
Security Sector Reform
and he was
trying to identify further reinforcements for 10th Division.
Mr Boulani, the
Minister of
Interior, was looking to reinforce Basra’s police force with better
leaders,
possibly
with commanders outside the province.
1404.
On 30 August,
Major General Graham Binns, GOC MND(SE) from August
2007
until
February 2008, reported that UK forces had handed over the PJCC
four days
previously,
ahead of schedule and without incident.1286
1405.
The same day,
at the Iraq Strategy Group meeting, Lieutenant General
Peter Wall,
Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments) from August
2007,
reported
that there had been some “limited militia infiltration and looting
of the site”
following
the handover “with the possible collusion or acquiescence of the
Iraqi
1406.
In a letter
from Mr Browne to Mr Gordon Brown (who had become Prime
Minister
on 27 June)
on 31 August, the looting was described as “unauthorised movement
of
equipment”.1288
In
response, Gen Mohan deployed his entire reserve battalion to
the site.
1407.
On 3
September, UK forces withdrew from Basra Palace and relocated at
Basra
Air Station
(as described in Section 9.6).1289
As well as
the Presidential Guard Force,
elements
from the 10th Division were stationed in Basra Palace.
1408.
Maj Gen Binns
described the withdrawal in his evidence to the
Inquiry:
“… we first
had to fold in from the … PJCC, the Permanent Joint
Co‑ordination
Centre. So
we had to remove our presence there and come into the Palace.
We
then had to
recruit, train, equip and deploy an Iraqi security force which
became
known as
the Palace Protection Force, to take over the Palace.
…
“Then we
had to conduct a relief in place1290
with the
Iraqi Palace Protection Force,
and then,
the final act in all of that, was to remove ourselves in early
September.
“… I
reflect that it went remarkably well, considering all of the
complexities.”1291
1409.
As a result of
withdrawing UK police from the Warren site, support to the
PJCC
and the
NIIA ceased, as did station visits by Police Transition
Teams.1292
1286
Minute
Binns to CJO, 30 August 2007, ‘GOC HQ MND(SE) – Southern Iraq
Update ‑ 30 August 2007’.
1287
Minute
Cabinet Office [junior official] to McDonald, 30 August 2007, ‘Iraq
Strategy Group, 29 August’.
1288
Letter
Browne to Brown, 31 August 2007, ‘Iraq: Handover of Basra Palace
and Provincial Iraqi Control
in
Basra’.
1289
eGram
37263/07 Baghdad to FCO London, 10 September 2007, ‘Iraq:
Ministerial Committee for
National
Security (MCNS) – 9 September’.
1290
A “relief
in place” is an operation in which one unit is replaced with
another.
1291
Public
hearing, 15 January 2010, pages 10‑11.
1292
Minute
Colbourne, 27 August 2007, ‘Bi‑Weekly Report of the UK Chief Police
Adviser’.
381