15.1 | Civilian
personnel
198.
Sir Hilary
told the Inquiry that there was a general impression of improvement
in
Basra
during October and November 2003.137
199.
In late 2003,
a significant number of civilian vacancies in CPA(South) were
filled
temporarily
by the UK military, including by Reservists from the Territorial
Army (TA).
200.
After a visit
to Basra on 2 October, Mr Adam Ingram, Minister of State for
the
Armed
Forces, commented on the time it had taken to set up an effective
CPA and the
“large
number of gapped posts and military personnel doing jobs that
should be done
by civilian
volunteers”.138
201.
On 13 October,
Mr Ingram described to Mr Benn, who had replaced
Baroness
Amos as
Secretary of State for International Development on 5 October, the
risks
involved in
using military reservists to address “the precarious situation on
CPA(S)
manpower”.139
Mr Ingram
attached lists of the 48 military staff embedded in
CPA(South)
and the CPA
GTs in Basra, Maysan, Muthanna and Dhi Qar. A total of 35
were
Reservists,
all but one of them due to leave Iraq by the end of
2003.
202.
Mr Geoff
Hoon, the Defence Secetary, raised the issue of Reservists with
Mr Straw
on 23
October.140
The ad hoc
filling of vacant posts by military personnel,
including
Reservists
who happened to have relevant skills from civilian life, was “not a
robust way
to resource
such an important body”. Mr Hoon stated:
“… we need
to get out of a mindset where the default position is to call on
‘spare’
military
personnel to fulfil roles for which they have not been trained.
CPA(S) may
well
require a higher proportion of civilians than the CPA elsewhere in
the country
because the
roles and capabilities of UK forces do not encompass all of
those
available
within the much larger US Armed Forces. We will, of course,
continue to
support the
overall effort in the South where we can, but the best people for
the
posts in
CPA(S) could well come from a wider range of Whitehall departments
and
the
civilian sector in the UK.”
203.
On 30 October,
the MOD Iraq Secretariat briefed Mr Hoon on options
for
compulsory
mobilisation of volunteer reserves to fill CPA
gaps.141
It advised
that
Reservists’
willingness to take on those jobs was admirable, but it was unfair
to employ
them in
roles for which they had not originally volunteered and for less
pay than they
would
receive as civilians. Their transfer to civilian roles also
represented an opportunity
cost to the
military.
137
Public
hearing, 9 December 2009, page 40.
138
Minute
Johnson to APS/Min(AF), 17 October 2003, ‘Minister(AF) visit to
Basra: 2 October 2003’.
139
Letter
Ingram to Benn, 13 October 2003, [untitled].
140
Letter Hoon
to Straw, 23 October 2003, ‘Iraq: Visit to Basra 20‑21 October
2003’.
141
Minute AD
Iraq to APS/Secretary of State [MOD], 30 October 2003, ‘Op Telic –
Support to CPA:
Mobilisation
of Volunteer Reserves’.
277