The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
people.
There are many capable diplomats in both the UK and US Embassies,
but
are they
the best people to deliver predominately ‘non-diplomatic’
objectives?”
426.
The referendum
on Iraq’s draft Constitution took place on 15
October.243
427.
The day after
the referendum, President Talabani issued a decree
announcing
that
Parliamentary elections would take place on 15 December, in
accordance with
428.
Mr Patey
reported by telegram on 18 October that the new US approach
to
reconstruction
and building Iraqi Government capacity had two
strands:
•
capacity-development
programmes in 10 national ministries; and
•
15 PRTs and
one Regional Reconstruction Team (RRT), to cover the
provinces
under the
Kurdish Regional Government.245
429.
MND(SE) and
DFID had fed in concerns over the introduction of PRTs, centred
on
the lack of
consultation with the Iraqi Government, coalition members and the
UN.
430.
The first
three PRTs would be established on 1 November. The US expected all
the
PRTs and
the RRT to be established by March/April 2006.
431.
Mr Patey
advised that the US expected coalition partners to bear the running
costs
of PRTs in
their areas. Those costs would be significant.
432.
Dr Rice told
the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 19 October that
the
US strategy
to “assure victory” in Iraq, working with the Iraqi Government, was
to “clear,
hold, and
build”.246
She
described the US strategy:
“With our
Iraqi allies, we are working to:
•
Clear the
toughest places – no sanctuaries to the enemy – and
disrupt
foreign
support for the insurgents.
•
Hold and
steadily enlarge the secure areas, integrating political
and
economic
outreach with our military operations.
•
Build truly
national institutions working with more capable provincial
and
local
authorities. Embodying a national compact – not tools of a
particular
sect or
ethnic group – these Iraqi institutions must sustain security
forces,
bring rule
of law, visibly deliver essential services, and offer the Iraqi
people
hope for a
better economic future.”
243
eGram
15692/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 16 October 2005, ‘Iraq:
Constitution: Referendum Day
Passes
Peacefully’.
244
eGram
15761/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 17 October 2005, ‘Iraq:
Elections’.
245
eGram
15865/05 Baghdad to FCO London, 18 October 2005, ‘Iraq: Provincial
Reconstruction Teams’.
246
US
Department of State Archive, 19 October 2005, Iraq
and US Policy: Secretary Condoleezza Rice,
Opening
Remarks Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington,
DC, October 19 2005.
268