The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
267.
The
New York
Times reported that
bad weather and fierce fighting were slowing
the attack,
and that the supply train had yet to catch up with the US forces
100 miles
from
Baghdad, leading to concerns about food, fuel and
water.
268.
On 28 March,
Mr Adam Ingram, the Minister of State for the Armed Forces,
and
General Sir
Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, held their first press
conference
since the
start of military action.161
269.
Mr Ingram
told reporters that:
“In a
remarkably short time the Coalition and the UK presence within it
have
accomplished
an extraordinary amount … The Iraqis are simply no match for
them.”
270.
In response to
a question about the percentage of the UK Armed Forces
committed
to
operations, Mr Ingram replied that, across all three Services,
about a quarter were in
the
Gulf.
271.
In his
statement, Gen Jackson responded to reporting that the campaign
was
“bogged
down”, by saying that he “wouldn’t actually describe it that way”.
“Bogged
down” was,
in his view, a “tendentious phrase” for “a pause whilst people get
themselves
sorted out
for what comes next”.
272.
Gen Jackson
stated that 3 Commando Brigade was in control of the
al-Faw
Peninsula,
16 Air Assault Brigade continued to secure and control the
Rumaylah
oilfields,
and there had been some “highly successful” engagements around
Basra.
Iraqi forces
in the South were “fixed – by that we mean they are pinned down,
their
ability to
manoeuvre is … very little indeed”. He also paid tribute to the
“staggering
achievement”
of the logisticians who had made it all possible; that was “better
even than
what was
achieved in the first Gulf War”.
“It is
inevitable that there is a demand for rapid results, but we must be
very careful
that what
is hoped … does not come to some sort of prediction … it is not a
fixed
plan … [as]
the President of the United States and our own Prime Minister
said
yesterday …
it will take as long as it takes to achieve the
objective.”
274.
Asked about
the idea that Iraq’s “dogged resistance” was “ruining” the
Coalition’s
plan, Gen
Jackson stated that the plan had not changed, but the enemy would
try
to interfere
with it. At the tactical level, plans would be adjusted according
to the
local situation.
161
GlobalSecurity.org,
28 March 2003, Minister of
State for the Armed Forces and the Chief of the
General
Staff: Press
Conference at the Ministry of Defence, London – 28 March
2003.
46