The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
855.
Sir Hilary
Synnott told the 25 November Iraq Strategy Group (ISG) that
the
compression
of the political timetable “made other parts of the process,
including
consultation,
capacity building and infrastructure development, more
difficult”.485
He
also
advised
that increased consent in the South could not be taken for
granted.
856.
President Bush
visited the UK from 18 to 22 November.486
857.
Before the
visit, Mr Rycroft gave Mr Blair a copy of a paper by Sir
Jeremy
Greenstock
entitled ‘Iraq: Security’, for discussion with President
Bush
858.
In the paper,
Sir Jeremy argued that security must be the Coalition’s
highest
priority
until the transition.488
He then set
out a number of areas that needed to be
addressed,
including:
“Sunni
strategy
•
Sunni
outreach remains critical even while pursuing crackdown on
FRE [Former
Regime
Elements] activities
in these areas. Civic and
economic development
projects
must be a priority. And we must help the IGC to sell the new
political
process in
the Sunni heartlands.
Economics
•
Absolute
priority must be given to job creation …
Managing
the transition/drawdown
•
On civilian
side, must not
adopt mindset that June represents a cut off point.
Will
have to
stay engaged to assist the Iraqi Transitional Government find its
feet.
Need to
start thinking now about how this should best be
done.”
859.
Mr Blair
gave President Bush a slightly revised version of the
paper.489
860.
On 19
November, the Cabinet Office informed Ministers that a
combination
of effective
lobbying by the UK in Washington and with the CPA, and
similarly
strong reservations
from the US Treasury, had led the CPA’s plans to privatise
SOEs
to be “taken
off the policy agenda”.490
The UK
would press for similar proposals
with
the potential for social upheaval to be postponed beyond the
formation of the
transitional government.
861.
Dr Rice told
Sir Nigel Sheinwald on 21 November that the US was reviewing
the
CPA’s
reconstruction projects and that some aspects of economic policy,
including
485
Minute
Fergusson to Sheinwald, 26 November 2003, ‘Iraq Strategy
Group’.
486
BBC
News, 18
November 2003, Bush
arrives for state visit.
487
Minute
Rycroft to Prime Minister, 18 November 2003, ‘Bush Visit – Private
Talks’.
488
Paper
Greenstock, 18 November 2003, ‘Iraq: Security’.
489
Paper
[Greenstock], 20 November 2003, ‘Iraq: Security’.
490
Minute Dodd
to Owen, 19 November 2003, ‘Iraq: Update for Ministers’ attaching
Paper Cabinet Office,
19 November
2003, ‘Iraq: Update for Ministers’.
148