10.1 |
Reconstruction: March 2003 to June 2004
447.
The
Government’s support for UK businesses is described in Section
10.3.
448.
Mr Rycroft
passed the IPU paper and the list of projects in Basra to
Mr Blair on
5 June,
under a minute which suggested the “set of big picture but concrete
points” that
might come
out of Mr Blair’s meeting with Mr Straw, Mr Hoon and
Baroness Amos the
following
day and which could then be put to President Bush.246
The minute
was copied
only within
No.10. The points were:
a.
“Security. This is the top priority …
b. Sort out
the CPA’s Organisation. The only way to get round the … problem is
for
you to
raise directly with Bush.
{{Install
proper phones and IT.
{{Delegate
more decision-making to the CPA, to avoid … wrangling.
{{Sort out
the communications strategy.
c.
Infrastructure
projects. This is where we will be judged by ordinary
Iraqis.
{{Get
Bechtel to conclude their sub-contract with Siemens UK asap,
so
Siemens can
help restore power capacity.
{{Set up
the national phone network.
{{Get UNDP
[United Nations Development Programme] and UNICEF to
sort
out the
power and water supplies.
d.
Restoring
normal life.
{{Sort out
the currency.
{{Open the
airports to civil flights.
{{Appoint
x to sort out the Iraqi media.
{{Press on
with security sector reform.
e. Basra:
see separate list of things we can do in our own area
…
f. US/UK
contacts. … Since we share legal responsibility as Occupying
Powers,
we (the UK)
may also at times need to have a veto over CPA decisions
…”
449.
Mr Blair
held a further meeting on Iraq on 6 June, to agree the points to
put to
President
Bush.247
It was
attended by Mr Straw and Gen Walker, as well as those
who
had been
present on 3 June.
246
Minute
Rycroft to Prime Minister, 5 June 2003, ‘Iraq: Meeting at 0800 on
Friday’.
247
Letter
Cannon to McDonald, 6 June 2003, ‘Iraq: Prime Minister’s Meeting
6th June’.
81