10.1 | Reconstruction: March 2003 to June 2004

53. The first ORHA personnel entered Iraq on 1 April, visiting Umm Qasr.35

Hard Lessons, Mr Stuart Bowen’s account as US Inspector General for Iraq

Reconstruction of the US experience of reconstruction between 2002 and 2008,

recorded that the situation had deteriorated rapidly since the visit of the USAID DART

team because of heavy looting.

54. The MOD reported on 2 April that the UN had declared Umm Qasr a “permissive”

environment, opening the way for UN agencies and NGOs to start work in the town.36

55. Mr Hoon raised humanitarian issues with Mr Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary

of Defense, on 3 April.37 Mr Hoon proposed that ORHA (the majority of whose staff

were still based in Kuwait), should focus on its humanitarian role as soon as it deployed

to Iraq.

56. A second USAID DART team visited Umm Qasr on 4 April and reported that

“anything not nailed down” had gone.38

57. The MOD reported on 4 April that the Red Cross and the Red Crescent were

the only humanitarian agencies working alongside the UK military.39 Water and power

provision in Basra were back at pre-war levels.

58. On 6 April, the Cabinet Office informed No.10 that the ICRC and UK military

assessed that improving the water supply remained a priority for Umm Qasr and Basra,

but the situation was not a “humanitarian crisis”.40

59. RFA Sir Percivale docked at Umm Qasr on 7 April to deliver 300 tonnes of “MOD

humanitarian supplies”.41

60. Mr Hoon informed Parliament on 7 April that UK forces had “deployed in force

into Basra”.42

61. The COBR evening round-up later that day reported that while no area in Basra was

safe enough to call in humanitarian assistance, power and food were available to the

majority of the population and the slight shortages of water were not significant.43

35 Bowen SW Jr. Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience. U.S. Government Printing

Office, 2009.

36 Report MOD, 2 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Update for the Number 10 Sitrep – as at 1600 2 April 2003’.

37 Minute Watkins to DG Op Pol, 3 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Conversation with Rumsfeld: 3 April 2003’.

38 Bowen SW Jr. Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience. U.S. Government Printing

Office, 2009.

39 Report MOD, 4 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Update for the Number 10 Sitrep – as at 0600 4 April 2003’.

40 Minute Drummond to Manning, 6 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Update – Noon Sunday 6 April’.

41 Report Cabinet Office, 7 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Evening Round Up 7 April’.

42 House of Commons, Official Report, 7 April 2003, column 21.

43 Report MOD, 7 April 2003, ‘Annex to Evening Sitrep 8 April 2003: Military’.

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