10.1 |
Reconstruction: March 2003 to June 2004
•
Kirkuk 7
(including Ms Emma Sky, who had been the senior CPA
civilian
in Kirkuk
since June).423
763.
The RAND
history of the CPA, Occupying
Iraq, stated that it
took six months
to get CPA
officials into Iraq’s 18 governorates and that “the small staffs
were often
overwhelmed
by the scale of their responsibilities”.424
Teams sent
weekly reports
to
CPA(Baghdad), but “progress (or the lack thereof) at the provincial
and local
level
depended largely on the initiative and improvisation of individual
governorate
coordinators
and military commanders”.
764.
The new FCO
Iraq Directorate, which Mr Straw had agreed the previous
month,
was
established on 16 October.425
It was
headed by Mr John Buck, reporting to Mr John
Sawers, the
FCO Political Director. Mr Chaplin remained “closely involved
in the political
process and
regional aspects” as FCO Director Middle East and North
Africa.
765.
The
Directorate comprised three units:
•
the Iraq
Policy Unit (IPU), headed by Mr Crompton, covering the
political
process, UN
issues, fiscal and monetary policy, human rights, bilateral
affairs
and travel
advice;
•
the Iraq
Security Sector Unit (ISSU), headed initially by Mr Robert
Chatterton
Dickson, to
be replaced from 29 October by Ms Kate Smith, covering
politico‑military
affairs, liaison with the MOD, reconstruction and training of
the
Iraqi army
and police forces and co-ordination of security assessments;
and
•
the Iraq
Operations Unit (IOU), headed by Mr Philip Parham, covering
civil
reconstruction,
liaison with DFID, media development and deployment of
and
support for
UK personnel in the CPA.
766.
On 27 October,
Sir Hilary Synnott requested a further 44 staff for CPA(South)
to
cover
“political reporting, governance issues and CPA(S) internal
support”, in addition to
the 37
specialist staff that he had requested at the end of
August.426
Sir Hilary
reported
that DFID
was arranging recruitment of the 37 specialists.
767.
The 14
November meeting of the ISOG was advised that the first 10
to
15 specialists
of the 37 requested by Sir Hilary at the end of August, would
deploy
that month.427
The “bulk”
would follow in December.
423
Public
hearing Sky, 14 January 2011, pages 9-10.
424
Dobbins J,
Jones SG, Runkle B & Mohandas S. Occupying
Iraq: A History of the Coalition Provisional
Authority.
RAND
Corporation, 2009.
425
Minute Buck
to All Departments, 16 October 2003, ‘Creation of Iraq
Directorate’.
426
Telegram 38
Basra to FCO London, 27 October 2003, ‘CPA(South): Staffing
Requirements’.
427
Minutes, 14
November 2003, Iraq Senior Officials Group meeting.
133