The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
1174.
Mr Browne
acknowledged that, for more to be done, “people need
some
guidance
within which to work, particularly in relation to timescales and
force levels”.
He suggested
agreement on the following assumptions:
“•
current
plans for force levels and posture will hold for the next six
months;
•
for the
period 6‑12 months from now we will be at 4,500 in COB
only;
•
for the
period 12‑24 months from now we will be at 3,000 in COB
only.”
“I would
welcome rapid agreement from all parties on this. Once agreed I am
content
we
programme on this basis, including finance, accepting that it is a
planning
assumption
for the purposes of this exercise alone.”
1176.
Mr Browne
questioned whether hardened accommodation for communal
areas
could be
delivered earlier than the estimated timescale of 16‑20 months and
whether
shorter‑term
improvements could be made in the interim: “3‑6 months,
preferably
sooner”.
Options for different timings and costs should be provided quickly,
“disregarding
bureaucracy
and standard assumptions about financial constraints”.
1177.
Mr Browne
wrote that the Phalanx capability618
was “a major
step in the right
direction”
and that they should do “everything in our power, including
Ministerial
intervention
with the US” to meet the May timescale. He asked whether that
should
be pursued
for Basra Palace as well as the COB.
1178.
Lord Drayson
visited Iraq on 8 March and discussed various equipment
issues
in theatre,
including force protection.619
His report
is detailed earlier in this Section with
regard to
how the UOR process worked in Iraq and protected
mobility.
1179.
Lord Drayson
was informed by 19 Light Brigade that Merlin was performing
well,
“although
it was not yet hot”. The Lynx helicopters were unable to fly in the
summer heat
in Iraq and
the top cover role they provided for convoys could be filled with a
UAV.
1180.
The visit
report stated that, after visiting Basra Rural South
Brigade:
“It was
made very clear that the IDF was having a significant impact on the
morale of
forces
based at the COB … The element of chance in where IDF landed
significantly
increased
stress level, and two people had already been sent home as a
result.”
1181.
Lord Drayson
had been told that there was no off‑the‑shelf design for
hardened
accommodation
that could be applied and that there were challenges to building
in
Iraq. If
“process impediments” were removed, then the first hardened
buildings could
“probably
be in place in around 10 months”. The US presently took 7‑8 months
to build
hardened
accommodation.
618
A type of
C‑RAM system.
619
Minute
APS/MIN(DES) to PSSC/SofS [MOD], 26 March 2007, ‘Minister(DES)
Visit to Iraq’.
200