The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
A small
team conducted reconnaissance of Basra.277
24
March: UK Special
Forces supporting 1 (UK) Div were on standby to enter
Basra;
in the
absence of permission to do so, they passed information from within
the city to
25
March: UK Special
Forces continued to assist in planning for entry into Basra
by
conducting
further reconnaissance.279
The MOD
assessed it was “too soon to divert effort
from the
strategically critical task of countering the ballistic missile
threat in the West”.
DSF1 told
the Inquiry that there were Special Forces units “in the South in
support of the
overall
effort”.280
Those
forces were there to “support the conventional operation with
the
British
forces … into Basra”.281
DSF1
described the role of Special Forces as providing information to
inform target
selection,
for instance:
“… to
establish where members of the Ba’ath Party and some of the
Fedayeen were
meeting,
which obviously was not in the Ba’ath Party headquarters, which had
been
destroyed …
by the strike quite early on.” 282
26
March: Special Forces
continued to support targeting in Basra and the team
was
enhanced
with extra personnel.283
27
March: Special Forces
were in discussion with key individuals in Basra, who
gave
indications
that they were prepared to co-operate with UK
forces.284
28
March: Operations
continued in western Iraq to interdict Iraqi movement and
so
prevent
missile launches, and in Basra to support
targeting.285
30
March: Special Forces
supported Black Watch raids into Basra.286
3
April: Operations in
the West continued, clearing Named Areas of Interest and
engaging
directly
with the enemy.287
Support in
Basra continued.
5
April: Special Forces
personnel in Basra were reinforced, and integrated with
UK
battlegroups
to assist 7 Armoured Brigade.288
277
Minute
Gibbons to Manning, 23 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Update Sunday 23 March
(1100)’.
278
Minute
Williams to Manning, ‘Update on Special Forces
Activities’.
279
Minute
[MOD], 25 March 2003, ‘Iraq – Update on UK Special Forces
Activities’.
280
Private
hearing, 2010, page 7.
281
Private
hearing, 2010, page 11.
282
Private
hearing, 2010, page 21.
283
Minute
[MOD], 26 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Update on UK Special Forces
Activities’.
284
Minute
Cannon to Rycroft, 27 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Prime Minister’s
video-conference with Bush,
27 March’.
285
Letter
Williams to Manning, 28 March 2003, ‘Update on Special Forces
Activities’.
286
Minute
[MOD], 30 March 2003, ‘Operation TELIC
– Update on
UKSF Activities – 30 March 2003’.
287
Minute
[MOD], 3 April 2003, ‘Op TELIC – Update on UKSF Activities – 3
April 2003’.
288
Minute
[MOD], 5 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Update on UKSF Activities – 5 April
2003’.
80