The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
357.
Combat ID was
raised at the House of Commons Liaison Committee by
Mr Michael Mates
on 21 January.171
When asked
by Mr Mates whether he was “happy”
that
British soldiers were most likely to be killed by “our own people
rather than the
enemy”,
Mr Blair answered:
“We are
looking at everything we can do for combat identification. I think
the
procedures
are far better now than those that were in place at the time of the
Gulf
War. I have
asked for discussions on this very issue so we can make sure we
are
doing
everything we possibly and conceivably can. From previous conflicts
we know
it is a
risk and we have got to do everything we can to provide against it.
I know
there has
been a lot of work done on this and there have been joint
operations
carried out
in order to test the effectiveness of it. Obviously it is something
we have
to carry on
looking at carefully.”
358.
When pushed
for further details by Mr Mates, Mr Blair added that the
capability
was:
“… in a
significantly better shape than it was back at the Gulf War ten
years ago.
The very
reason I have asked to be kept closely informed as to what is
happening
on it is
because this is one of the things we need to make sure
of.”
359.
PJHQ confirmed
on 29 January that the US had agreed to the loan of 43
Combat
ID systems
for use by British forces.172
360.
As concerns
over equipment shortfalls persisted, Ministers asked
for
industry
“to be pressed again” on whether they could work faster to
meet
requirements.
361.
They were
told that industry was working to capacity and “any
significant
improvement”
in delivery profiles should not be anticipated.
362.
The risk of
CW attacks was assessed as low, but the UK’s NBC
protective
capability
would be “initially fragile”.
363.
The update on
UORs on 31 January informed Lord Bach that:
•
143
equipment UORs, at a value of £437m, and 108 sustainability UORs
had
been
approved. A further 18 USURs had been endorsed by PJHQ and
business
cases were
being developed.
•
All
personnel would be issued with three sets of desert clothing by the
end of
March and
follow-on orders were being investigated to procure
sustainment
171
Select
Committee on Liaison, Official
Report, 21 January
2003, questions 82-83.
172
Minute PJHQ
to PS/Minister(DP), 29 January 2003, ‘Iraq: Op TELIC – Combat
Identification UOR’.
56