The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
leave
future decisions on the shape of the Iraqi oil industry and the
management
of oil
revenues to the new Iraqi Government, while advising on
international
best
practice.
296.
UK policy on
Iraq’s oil and oil revenues is addressed in Section
10.3.
297.
On 24 April,
Sir Michael Jay recommended to Mr Straw that the Iraq Planning
Unit
(IPU)
should merge with the Iraq Section of the FCO’s Middle East
Department (MED)
and be
renamed the Iraq Policy Unit.165
The
mechanisms in place since mid-January166
had worked
well, but were not sustainable indefinitely. There was a need for
“a stable
structure
which will enable us to sustain the considerable effort which will
now be
needed for
quite a while yet”.
298.
Sir Michael
proposed retaining the Iraq Planning Unit’s Whitehall-wide
character, in
particular
by recruiting a high proportion of staff on secondment from other
departments.
He
concluded:
“This will
be a high priority for the Office [FCO] over the next months at
least. We
shall find
the necessary resources, though this will have to be at the expense
of
lower
priority work elsewhere.”
299.
Mr Straw
approved Sir Michael Jay’s recommendation on 28
April.167
300.
At the Ad Hoc
Meeting on Iraq on 28 April, Mr Hoon said that “efforts to
improve the
life of
Iraqis in the South were bearing fruit”.168
301.
Ms Short
described the UK role in Basra as “exemplary, but life was still
disrupted”.
In Baghdad,
conditions were more difficult and residual anti-American feeling
was
evident.
302.
In discussion,
Ministers noted that ORHA was at an “embryonic” stage and
“more
urgency”
should be given to UK engagement.
303.
In late April,
tension in Iraq between the UK military and DFID became
increasingly
apparent.
304.
Mr Mike
O’Brien, FCO Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, attended
the
Central
Iraq Conference in Baghdad on 28 April (see Section 9.1). In the
margins he had
separate
meetings with Maj Gen Cross and Lt Gen Garner.
165
Minute Jay
to Secretary of State [FCO], 24 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Future
Handling’.
166
The Iraq
Planning Unit was established on 10 February 2003, see Section
6.5.
167
Minute
McDonald to PS/PUS [FCO], 28 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Future
Handling’.
168
Minutes, 28
March 2003, Ad Hoc Meeting on Iraq.
56