The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
83.
DFID pledged a
further £35m towards the UN appeal, bringing DFID’s
total
84.
The Inquiry
has not seen any assessment by the UK Government of
the
effectiveness
of the UK’s humanitarian assistance effort in the UK’s
AO/AOR.
85.
Ms Short told
the Inquiry that the efforts of the UN agencies and the Red
Cross
in particular
had prevented a humanitarian crisis in Iraq:
“… the
humanitarian thing worked because a lot of work was done by a lot
of people
and we
played our part in that”.64
86.
Between March
and May 2003, the UK sought international partners to share
the
civilian
and military burden in post-conflict Iraq.
87.
Section 6.5
describes concerns expressed by UK civilian and military
planners
before the
invasion that, in the absence of UN authorisation for Phase IV, it
would prove
difficult
to attract international partners to share the post-conflict
burden.
88.
On 21 March,
Mr Ian Lee, MOD Director General Operational Policy (DG Op
Pol),
sent a
“Coalition Engagement Strategy for Phase IV” to the Chiefs of
Staff.65
Mr Lee
advised:
“We need to pursue this approach as a matter of urgency, since
Phase IV may
be almost
upon us.”
89.
The Engagement
Strategy recommended that the UK inform the US of the
UK’s
need for
partners to fill Phase IV military and non-military capability
gaps. Officials would
then start
bilateral discussions with potential partners, leading to a
possible multilateral
meeting
“when we judge that nations feel comfortable with being openly
identified”.
90.
Mr Lee
advised Mr Hoon on 26 March that initial discussions with some
countries
were under
way, but could not be concluded without:
“… more
clarity on the overall Phase IV framework … and the legalities of
our
position in
the absence of a UNSCR [T]hese high-level issues will, we hope,
be
clarified
in forthcoming contact at Prime Minister/President level [at Camp
David].”66
63
International
Development Committee, Session 2002-2003, Examination
of Witnesses (Questions
49-59), 30
June 2003.
64
Public
hearing, 2 February 2010, page 13.
65
Minute Lee
to COSSEC, 21 March 2003, ‘Coalition Engagement Strategy for Phase
IV’, attaching
Paper,
[undated], ‘Coalition Engagement Strategy for Phase
IV’.
66
Minute Lee
to PS/Secretary of State [MOD], 26 March 2003, ‘Coalition-Building
for Phase IV’.
18