The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
495.
In his
evidence to the Inquiry Mr Hoon stated:
“Desert
combats were part of the UORs and I know some of the soldiers
resented
having to
wear their green combats rather than their desert
combats.”244
496.
Mr Hoon
later added: “Some soldiers, I’m sure, did not have the right
boots.”245
497.
ACM Stirrup
told the Inquiry that extra time “would certainly have made
a
difference”
to the provision of desert clothing and boots.246
Although
pressure on the
manufacturers
had delivered “just about sufficient sets”, that was not enough in
an
operational
environment where “a critical issue” was to get it to the right
place on time.
498.
Major General
Graham Binns, Commander of 7 Armoured Brigade during
the
invasion,
told the Inquiry:
“There were
soldiers who didn’t have desert combats, you know, we were
asking
them to go
to war incorrectly dressed.”247
499.
Mr Ingram
told the Inquiry that part of the reason behind Ministerial visits
to Iraq
during the
operations was to investigate what he called the “urban myths” that
were
being
reported in the media about equipment shortages.248
He gave an
example:
“ … I had
one of my own constituents, a mother, on behalf of her son,
complaining
about the
fact that her boy didn’t have size 11 boots, and this went on for
weeks and
weeks,
until the point I said, ‘Well, is he running around barefoot?’ to
her. Of course
he wasn’t.
He had bought his own boots, but she was annoyed that he – she
was
saying that
he had not been issued with the size 11, and he had
been.”
500.
Enough body
armour was procured to equip only British fighting
formations;
that was
insufficient to equip all British troops deployed.
501.
Poor asset
tracking meant that even fighting formations were not
fully
equipped,
resulting in an urgent redistribution programme to the front
line.
502.
On
24 March 2003, Sergeant Steven Roberts was killed in Iraq as a
result of a
gunshot
wound.249
Sgt Roberts
had been asked to relinquish his armour because of the
shortfall
in theatre.
244
Public
hearing, 19 January 2010, page 129.
245
Public
hearing, 19 January 2010, page 149.
246
Public
hearing, 1 February 2010, page 13.
247
Private
hearing, 2 June 2010, page 4.
248
Public
hearing, 16 July 2010, pages 26-27.
249
GOV.UK,
24 March
2003, Sergeant
Steven Roberts.
80