The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
117.
In the
Annotated Agenda for the AHMGIR on 12 June, officials
informed
Ministers
that:
“… we
continue to strengthen the CPA with a fluctuating contingent of
UK
secondees,
currently numbering around 70. The bulk of those sent in May will
return
to the UK
in mid‑August. Their concluding reports will give us the
information to
decide
where we can best target our resources … in the medium
term.” 77
118.
On 16 June, Ms
Sally Keeble, who had been DFID Parliamentary Under
Secretary
of State
until earlier that month, raised with Mr Blair her concerns
about DFID’s planning
and
preparation for post‑conflict Iraq and its performance since the
invasion, including its
slow
engagement with the CPA after Ms Short’s resignation in May (see
Section 10.1).78
119.
Mr Rycroft
told Mr Blair that: “From what DM [David Manning] and I have
seen
from here,
Sally’s letter is accurate in highlighting DFID’s failure to
pre‑plan and to
engage with
CPA.” 79
Mr Rycroft
recommended that Sir Andrew Turnbull pursue the
issue
with
DFID.
120.
On 4 July,
Mr Chakrabarti told Sir Andrew Turnbull:
“DFID
support to CPA has grown dramatically; and continues to do so. In
early
April when
CPA (ORHA as was) moved to Baghdad, DFID had one official in
CPA.
That has
grown to 16 today split between Baghdad and Basra, and will rise
upwards
of
30 over the coming weeks – some 30 percent of the total UK
contingent …
“DFID
secondees into CPA have been successful in work areas ranging from
food
distribution
to refugee returns. Their success is based on thorough groundwork
done
beforehand
to ensure they have substantive roles, the skill set they bring to
their
tasks, and
professional support and back up from London.” 80
121.
Ministers
visiting Iraq in early July raised questions about the skills and
seniority
of secondees
to the CPA.
122.
On 2 July,
Baroness Amos advised Mr Blair that the CPA contained “too
many
people with
the wrong skill set – policy focus rather than operational
expertise, and
insufficient
experience of post‑conflict developing country
situations”.81
77 Annotated
Agenda, 12 June 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
78
Letter
Keeble to Blair, 16 June 2003, [untitled].
79
Minute
Rycroft to Prime Minister, 23 June 2003, ‘DFID’s Performance on
Iraq: Letter from Sally Keeble’.
80
Letter
Chakrabarti to Turnbull, 4 July 2003, ‘DFID’s performance on Iraq –
Letter from Sally Keeble MP’
attaching
Paper, ‘Iraq: Areas of Concern Raised in Sally Keeble’s
Letter’.
81
Letter Amos
to Blair, 2 July 2003, [untitled] attaching Report, ‘Iraq: Visit
Report’.
264