The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
“But it
will help reduce our staff’s exposure, without completely
abandoning the
BPC – which
in public terms, and our relations with Coalition allies, would be
very
damaging.
By phasing the drawdown of police advisers in particular, we can
largely
preserve
their critical contribution to SINBAD for the
moment.” 312
471.
The IPU
proposed that, moving as quickly as practicable:
“a)
All FCO
staff other
than a core of Consul General, Deputy CG, Arab media
spokesman,
Management Officer, Overseas Security Manager and
Technical
Works
Supervisor would relocate to BAS;
b)
The DFID
team at BPC
would reduce to one;
c) The
entire PRT
would be
transferred to BAS. This will be a major logistical
undertaking
and will take time to effect;
d)
The Police
team would
reduce in the next month by around 14 officers. Three
of
these
officers would relocate to BAS. The rest would leave theatre. This
would
retain just
enough officers in the city to provide essential support
to
Op SINBAD
…
e)
The Prisons
team would
leave theatre, pending progress on the Basra Central
Prison
Project;
f) The
25‑strong Control
Risks close
protection team would be reduced, since all
road moves
will now be in Warriors;
g) The
10‑strong KBR
[Kellogg
Brown & Root] life
support team would
be
reduced.
“Excluding
the perimeter guard force … this will mean a reduction
in the civilian
headcount at
BPC from 104 to around 35. Some 35 staff
would relocate to BAS.
“The
92‑strong Kroll perimeter
guard force will have to remain. As long as
we
have a
civilian presence in BPC, the requirement to protect the perimeter
of our part
of the
compound will remain.”
472.
DFID officials
put separate advice to Mr Benn, agreed with the FCO, on
the
implications
of the FCO plan for DFID staff in Basra.313
473.
It is not
clear whether the IPU paper was sent to DOP(I).
474.
At DOP(I) on
26 October, Ministers stated that, because of increasing
concern
about the
security of civilian staff in Basra, the FCO “would be consulting
urgently” on
recommendations
for the phased withdrawal of staff from the Basra Palace site to
both
Basra Air
Station and out of Iraq.314
312
Paper Iraq
Policy Unit, 25 October 2006, ‘Iraq: Basra Palace
Site’.
313
Minute
MENAD [junior official] to PS/Secretary of State [DFID], 25 October
2006, ‘Iraq – Basra: Staff
Security
& Basra Palace Site’.
314
Minutes, 26
October 2006, DOP(I).
328