The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
playing an
exemplary role in the South and supporting the UN and wider
international
effort
across the country and the region.153
241.
The official
recommended that DFID prepare for four roles:
“•
Support
humanitarian needs nationally and in the region, primarily
through
the UN
and Red Cross/Red Crescent movement;
•
Work
alongside and influence humanitarian action by US DART
[Disaster
Assistance
Relief Teams];
•
Work
alongside the UK military;
•
Undertake
DFID bilateral humanitarian action.”
242.
The official
identified a number of “further pre‑deployment steps which we
need
to initiate
now to be adequately prepared to play these roles
effectively”:
•
Establish a
forward base in Kuwait to allow DFID to build its capacity
for
deployment
into Iraq as humanitarian needs arose and security
allowed.
A forward
base would give DFID an “immediate response
capability”.
•
Deploy a
Humanitarian Adviser to Jordan to liaise and work with
humanitarian
partners.
•
Undertake
regional assessment missions, including to Cyprus, Egypt,
Turkey
and
Iran.
•
Deploy a
civil‑military Humanitarian Adviser to 1 (UK) Div in Kuwait,
and
undertake
regular visits to CENTCOM in Qatar.
•
Second
consultants and provide equipment to support
humanitarian
co‑ordination,
initially to the UN Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC)
in
Cyprus.
243.
The official
warned:
“If we do
not have people and assets in place and ready in time, we will not
be
able to
respond quickly and as may be needed. Once conflict has begun
logistical
constraints
will make it extremely difficult to respond unless we have put
the
preparations
in place.”
244.
The official
concluded by considering resource constraints. Until DFID
received
any
indication from the Treasury or No.10 that further funds would be
forthcoming in the
event of
conflict, it was planning on the basis that it could access a
substantial share
of DFID’s
Contingency Reserve to supplement its CHAD emergency funds and its
Iraq
programme
funds.
153
Minute DFID
[junior official] to PS/Secretary of State [DFID], 17 February
2003, ‘Iraq – Contingency
Planning:
Deployment Plan’.
482