The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
1410.
The Governor
of Muthanna province was assassinated on 20 August, the
second
Shia
governor to be killed that month.1293
1411.
On 20
September, Maj Gen Binns stated:
“Reporting
from multiple sources indicates that the security situation is
improving;
IPS and IA
units are conducting joint operations in the city … and LOs
[liaison
officers]
from the BOC [Basra Operations Command] are now working in
the
PJCC.
Basrawis seem reassured by this new security profile but remain
concerned
that
militias are using the ceasefire period to reorganise and resupply.
Of course
criminality
and gangsterism remain endemic.”1294
1412.
On 1 October,
ahead of a visit to Iraq, Mr Brown was briefed by a junior
official
that there
had been “some worrying high profile assassinations of religious
and police
figures”
and a car bomb which had killed three people in recent
weeks.1295
Support
by
local
politicians for Gen Mohan and Maj Gen Jalil was
described as “sporadic”.
1413.
On 2 October,
Mr Brown told journalists in Baghdad:
“What we
have been trying over these last few months also to build up the
Iraqi
Security
Forces … we are now in a position where there are nearly 30,000
Iraqi
Security
Forces [in the South]. So what we propose to do over these next
few
months is
to … maintain a facility for re‑intervention if necessary, but at
the same
time we
play a greater role in training future security forces. I believe
that within
the next
two months we can move to Provincial Iraqi Control, and that is the
Iraqis
taking
responsibility for their own security in the whole of Basra. I
believe that the
30,000
security forces that are being trained are capable of discharging
these
responsibilities
for security …”1296
1414.
On 7 November,
Acting ACC Michael Colbourne, Chief Police Adviser from
March
2007 to
April 2008, wrote to the FCO in London to articulate
Maj Gen Jalil’s expectations
for UK
support with police training.1297
Maj Gen Jalil
intended to reform the Basra IPS by:
•
“restructuring
the force to deliver five Emergency Battalions” (only one
was
currently
formed);
•
“rebuilding
the NIIA (retaining 50 of the current staff and dismissing the
rest)”;
•
“rebuilding
the CID (retaining 50 of the current staff and dismissing the
rest)”; and
1293
BBC
News, 20 August
2007, Roadside
bomb kills Iraq governor.
1294
Minute
Binns to CJO, 20 September 2007, ‘GOC HQ MND(SE) – Southern Iraq
Update –
20 September
2007’.
1295
Minute
Cabinet Office [junior official] to Brown, 1 October 2007, ‘Iraq
Visit: 2 October 2007’.
1296
Transcript
Sky
News, 2 October
2007, Live at
Five with Jeremy Thompson;
BBC Radio
4, 2 October
2007, PM.
1297
Letter
Colbourne to FCO [junior official], 7 November 2007, ‘The Policing
Mission in Basra’.
382